Aussie William Matthew wins Grand Prix class in Troisdorf, Germany

Fellow Australian Warwick McLean finished second and fourth….

Adele Severs

Published 21 May 2021

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William Matthew and Belantis 7 (Benetton Dream x Expo’se x Sandro Hit, competing in the Short Grand Prix class at Troisdorf.

Aussie William Matthew wins Grand Prix class in Troisdorf, Germany

By Equestrian Life

Australian rider William Matthew has won a national Short Grand Prix test (S***) at Troisdorf in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. William rode Belantis 7 (Benetton Dream x Expo’se x Sandro Hit) to a score of 71.434%, with the combination achieving very even scoring across all three judges; the H judge awarded 71.047%, C awarded 71.395% and M awarded 71.860%.

William has been in Europe for about 10 years, and currently rides for Isabell Werth. Previously, he worked for Kate Mably in the UK, before making his way to Germany as a working student for fellow Aussie Hayley Beresford for a year. It was then on to McLean Reitsport, run by Warwick and Carolina McLean, for five years. A short stint in the Netherlands with Dutch horse dealer Leida Collins-Strijk followed, and then two years with the Hödl family training under Beatrice Buchwald. William has now been riding for Isabell since the end of 2019.

Belantis 7 is owned by Madeleine Winter-Schulze and was formerly ridden by Isabell Werth, before Matthew was offered the ride about five months ago. Troisdorf was Matthew and Belantis’ first show together.

William wasn’t the only Australian posting exciting scores at Troisdorf — Warwick McLean contested the Short Grand Prix as well, finishing second on Hendrix 11 with a score of 69.651% and fourth with Sir Heinrich M on 67.209%. Three Australian combinations in the top four — not bad!

You can view the full results from the S*** class at Troisdorf here.

Earlier this month, Warwick rode in two S*** classes at Wickrath, also in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, with both horses showing very consistent results. On the first day, he finished seventh with Hendrix 11 on 67.807% and 12th with Sir Heinrich M on 66.667%, and then the following day he was fourth with Sir Heinrich M on 69.341% and seventh with Hendrix 11 on 66.936%.