Germany’s Richard Vogel excited about Cydello

Richard Vogel had his eye on Cydello as the 10-year old chestnut Hanoverian gelding grew up close to his farm in Germany.  “He was bred and born only half an hour from our place in Germany. I know the breeders really well,” he said. “They were never really selling him but we finally got in touch and I was allowed to sit on him and from the first ride it worked very good with the two of us.”

Richard, currently 10th in world show jumping rankings, described Cydello as “a very exciting horse” and the pair closed out week two of the Winter Equestrian Festival with a win in the $140,000 FEI 3-star Grand Prix.  Richard and Cydello had experience competing on the grass in Mexico last year, and came to the Derby field to test their merit against 44 horse rider combinations, nine of which went through to the jump off. 

“It was a strong field,” said Richard, who finished in a time of 33.63 ahead of runner up, Belgium’s Nicola Philippaerts and Derby de Riverland, with a time of 37.69. “The jump off plan was to leave the rails and try to be quick. He [Cydello] was really fighting for us today and it worked out.”

Cydello was animated during the presentation as the German national anthem played out. Richard says, while he is a little “more chilled” at home, he rises to the occasion when he gets to the competition ring. “He has a lot of blood,” he said. “At home he knows his environment and he’s a bit more relaxed – he’s with his friends and his colleagues. But here at the shows he has a lot of adrenaline and he’s always on it. But I guess that’s what we want to have as a sport horse. You never have to be worried that he’s going to get tired during the week. He’s always there and always very motivated.”