Seven a small “toilet break” did not jeopardize victory. Shortly before the piaffe, one of the most difficult lessons in dressage, Destacado had to get rid of a few horse droppings. The chestnut stallion stopped walking and relieved himself. But he allowed his rider Matthias Alexander Rath to persuade him in time to continue and perform the piaffe at the right point.
With an overall score of 74.596 percent, Rath and Destacado won the Grand Prix Special at the international Frankfurt Festhallen horse show on Saturday morning. The two thus close their extremely successful year with another win. It wasn’t until mid-November that they won the title “German Dressage Master” at the international indoor show in Stuttgart.
Destacado, the “little nerd”
Even there, Rath called the stallion a “model student” and a “little nerd”, just a horse that always wanted to do everything right. But the powerful, muscular Destacado is also a rather shy horse with a small heart, who was impressed by the very special atmosphere in the festival hall.
The Christmas decorations, the proximity to the spectator stands – this is still new for a young horse like Destacado, especially since many tournaments in recent years have had to take place without spectators due to the corona pandemic. “I was very satisfied today, even if the wading in the walk was of course unfavorable,” said Rath after the award ceremony and explained: “Normally he always does that before warming up. Today he lacked a bit of inner peace. But fortunately everything went well.”
An intimate relationship
Rath and Destacado know each other inside out. The stallion came to Kronberg to the sheep farm of the Rath-Linsenhoff family when he was only three years old. In 2018, when Destacado was five years old, they won silver at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses. In the first Corona winter of 2020, when the Festhallen tournament could not take place in Frankfurt but was held on a smaller scale at the local Schafhof without spectators, they won the Nuremberg Burg Pokal, a national series for young horses. This was followed by the triumph in the Festhalle – Rath’s first victory in the Grand Prix Special at his own tournament, where he worked in a double function as rider and tournament director.
Talent for the toughest lessons is in Destacado’s genes. His father Desperados won many medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships with Kristina Bröring-Sprehe. But a famous father alone is not enough: “At nine years old, he’s still a young horse and you can’t always call up things in the arena like you can at home in training,” says Rath. But the stallion has great quality and it is now up to him, according to Rath, to give Destacado “the strength and confidence that he can show what he can do at home in the arena.”
Appointed to the federal squad
He noticed early on that Destacado was a very special horse and developed a close relationship with him over the years. After the success in Stuttgart, Rath spoke of how happy he was to have such good horses in the stable again after his time with the famous stallion Totilas. In addition to Destacado, the 38-year-old also counts black Thiago, with whom he won the three-star tournament in Budapest at the beginning of October. He was recently called up to the German perspective squad with both horses.
Thiago is a son of Totilas, who was once dubbed the “miracle stallion”, and who became world champion with the Dutchman Edward Gal. In 2010 the stallion was sold to Germany for many millions. From then on his new rider was: Matthias Alexander Rath. However, sporting success did not come. In 2015, the black stallion’s career came to an undignified end when he made his last appearance in the dressage arena at the European Championships in Aachen – injured, with bone edema, which was later diagnosed. The stallion was then only active in breeding. Two years ago, in December 2020, he died as a result of colic.
With Destacado and Thiago the signs are completely different. Rath accompanies the training of the two stallions from the beginning and is now reaping the fruits of this long-term work with the successes. Being able to compete at the highest sporting level again makes him “extremely happy”. He doesn’t regret the time with Totilas: “Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. That’s part of life, a lot develops from it,” says Rath, adding: “Maybe I wouldn’t have Destacado if it hadn’t been for Totilas.”
