Hamburg is calling and its derby winners are coming!
Six names that have made derby history in Hamburg. Six names that have made headlines around the world. Six names that will once again be on the entry list for the Al Shira'aa German Show Jumping & Dressage Derby in 2025. Hamburg is calling and its derby winners are coming!
Six winners of the German Show Jumping Derby have once again signed up for the world equestrian event in Klein Flottbek in 2025. Three of them want to prove themselves again in the 94th German Show Jumping Derby on the big wall, the Melitta Wall, while the other three are concentrating on the classic classes without cross-country obstacles this year.
- He has won the Derby three times in the saddle with his dream partner Nacorde: André Thieme. In 2007 and 2008, the pair overcame the 1,230 metre course without faults, both times they were not the only ones and had to prove themselves in the jump-off: clear and fast. In 2011, no pair managed the traditional course without knockdowns, and Thieme and Nacorde were clear again in the jump-off with just one knockdown - their third victory! Thieme has already gained derby experience with Paule in 2023 and 2024, once completing the course with two faults and once with three faults; Thieme will be back on Paule in 2025.
- Marvin Jüngel had already ensured his Derby fairytale in 2024: the second victory in a row with the same horse, Balou's Erbin. The then 23-year-old had a very plausible strategy for winning: "We planned the whole time to be as cool as possible. Balou's heiress was already so relaxed in the box on Sunday morning - I knew then that it could be good, that I just had to stay relaxed and that worked out really well." By the way: This year, the two-time Derby winner is celebrating his 24th birthday on Derby Sunday and of course he is bringing his two-time Derby winner, Balou's Erbin, with him again.
- In 2009, the two of them competed in Hamburg for the first time, and in 2013 they succeeded in winning the Jumping Derby. Hello Max was already 19 years old at the time and was retired with this victory, Gilbert Tillmann couldn't believe his success and cheered: "It's a dream, I don't know, maybe I'll wake up soon..." The farrier and his Irishman, who previously served as a school horse - a special Derby legend. In previous years, Tillmann had saddled Hadjib for the Derby Tour, this year he is pulling a new Derby ace out of his sleeve, the 17-year-old Balou du Rouet son By Balou.
While Thieme, Jüngel and Tillmann are also bringing Derby horses with them this year, Nisse Lüneburg, Carsten-Otto Nagel and Cassandra Orschel are concentrating on the classic tests.
- Nisse Lüneburg has also won the German Show Jumping Derby twice before and both times with the same partner: in 2012 and 2014 with Calle Cool, who was previously ridden by Carsten-Otto Nagel. The 36-year-old from Lüneburg is bringing the nine-year-old Holstein Chill Out RL with him to Klein Flottbek this year.
- 15 years ago, in 2010, Carsten-Otto Nagel and Lex Lugar made the Derby arena cheer. Three pairs remained clear in the jump-off of the best four, but none were as fast as Nagel and Lex Lugar, even though the stallion had jumped in as a Derby horse at very short notice. Nagel had already shown in 1999 that he had heart and courage for the Derby and had secured victory with Wienerwirbel. In 2025, the two-time Derby winner will climb into the saddle of his current best horse, GK Curacao, in Hamburg.
- At last! After 47 years, a woman once again dominated the German Show Jumping Derby: Cassandra Orschel, the fifth woman in the Derby's more than 100-year history. The rider from Hamburg, who rides for Poland, saddled her Derby winner Dacara E in the Derby Park again this year, with whom she competed at the European Championships in Milan a year after her Derby success.
Hamburg is calling and its Derby winners are coming! The typical Klein Flottbek atmosphere, the crackling on the big derby arena, the cheers of the enthusiastic Hamburg fans - nobody wants to miss it.
(KiK/pe&pa)