Almost like ‘coming home’
Piaff Sponsorship Award: The most important stepping stone for upcoming championship riders in Germany
It is the most important stepping stone for upcoming championship riders in Germany: the Piaff Sponsorship Award. Over four stages, Germany's best U25 dressage riders will compete in the coming season to filter out their best. And these best will meet 2024 for the first time for their grand finale in Donaueschingen.
In 2024, the International S. D. Prince Joachim zu Fürstenberg Memorial Tournament Donaueschingen will be hosted for the first time by the event agency Schafhof Connects led by Matthias Rath and will immediately serve as a platform for one of Germany's most important dressage series. "I know the Piaff Sponsorship Award already as a rider; I was able to win it in 2006 and 2007 with Renoir-Unicef," recalls Rath. "I remember very well how this series helped me leap into the major sports." In 2020 and 2021, the Schafhof team already stepped in and hosted the final in Kronberg as the Stuttgart German Masters had to be canceled due to the Corona pandemic. "That we are now able to host the final from next year in Donaueschingen delights me immensely. For us as a family, this closes a very important circle," emphasizes Rath.
This circle began with Liselott Schindling-Rheinberger, better known by the name Linsenhoff. She was not only the first woman to win individual gold at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 but also the mother of Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff, the current stepmother of Matthias Rath. The Linsenhoff-Rath family continues what Liselott Linsenhoff started back then: supporting young equestrians. In addition, the famous dressage horse Piaff, with whom Liselott Linsenhoff won her gold medal, was housed at the Linsenhoff family's Schafhof. This series was named after him and was initiated by the Liselott Schindling Foundation for the Promotion of Dressage Riding in 2000. The familial ties of the Linsenhoff-Rath family to the Piaff Sponsorship Award are deeply rooted. Thus, the finale at their own tournament in Donaueschingen feels almost like “coming home.”
The reason the Dressage Committee of the German Olympic Committee for Equestrian Sport (DOKR) decided to move the Piaff Sponsorship Award final from Stuttgart to Donaueschingen is, however, a sporting one. All stages of the series are held at outdoor tournaments, only the final so far took place indoors. Now, the final will also be held outdoors.
The decision in the Piaff Sponsorship Award will take place 2024 at the grand finale in Donaueschingen from September 12 to 15.