Plot Twist! Sandra Auffarth Wins Aachen After Flag Rule Drama

Late last night, once all the reports were written and photos edited, I sat down in Aachen’s cozy riders’ bar to have a chat with Diarm Byrne, one half of the EquiRatings leadership, to discuss how we felt about the competition – and namely, about a competition whose winner had felt set in stone from the moment the entries were finalised. With eleven seconds in hand over his nearest rival, Michael Jung‘s victory with Kentucky champion fischerChipmunk FRH felt more inevitable than any other I can remember, and while we turned over the intricacies of the situation — that we’re extraordinarily lucky to watch the most dominant event rider of our era in his zenith; that horses are horses and eventing is eventing and anything can happen, even a (contentious) MIMclip at Tokyo — it was still odd to go into the final phase of the most important, difficult CCI4*-S in the world and not feel the thrum of butterflies over what might happen.

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Article written By Tilly Berendt