Patrik Kittel rode Touchdown to victory in the CDI4* Grand Prix Freestyle Saturday in the nine-year-old stallion’s first international Big Tour event and debut musical performance.
Patrik and the Swedish Warmblood Touchdown scored 83.715% for the win, the highest freestyle result for Sweden’s top ranked rider in two years that have included competitions on his championship mounts Well Done de la Roche CMF and Delaunay OLD. The all-Swedish partnership won the Grand Prix Friday.
Germany’s Raphael Netz on Lacoste placed second on 77.360% and Frederic Wandres on Hot Hit was third on 75.950%.
Touchdown is Patrik’s second new Big Tour partner, competing Fiontini for Andreas Helgstrand at the World Equestrian Festival CDIO5* in Aachen, Germany last week. Fiontini was world champion at five, six and seven years of age when ridden by Severo Jurado Lopez for Helgstrand Dressage. Andreas took over the ride last year but business commitments led to him turning over the horse to Patrik, a three-time Olympian for Sweden.
Touchdown (Quaterback x Sack) was competed by Patrik at Small Tour a year ago in the only previous international event for the pair. The horse was ridden by Philipp Ruwe of Germany to fifth place in the World Five Year Old Championships in 2017.
“He has only ridden a rural Grand Prix once,” Patrik said of Touchdown, “but he gives me an incredibly secure feeling as a rider. I’ve had a lot of horses, but never one that was so clear from the head. He has a good attitude.”
Patrik described the horse as occasionally a bit “grumpy” in training at home in Germany but in the competition arena is always very focused.
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