Edited and translated press release from Al Shira'aa German Show Jumping & Dressage Derby 2025

Home hero Christian Ahlmann recorded his third win in the CSI5* 1.60m Longines Grand Prix of Hamburg on Saturday, when he rode the 10-year-old stallion Dourkhan Hero Z (Don't Touch Tiji Hero x Zandor Z) to the victory at the 2025 Al Shira'aa German Show Jumping & Dressage Derby.

In 2013, Ahlmann won with Codex One, in 2022 with Dominator Z, and today with Dourkhan Hero Z. And the 50-year-old savoured his success at the Al Shira'aa German Show Jumping & Dressage Derby – every stride of the lap of honour, the cheers of the tens of thousands of spectators, and above all, the feeling of riding this young rising star. 

With a time of 40.99 seconds, Ahlmann left his compatriots and reigning Olympic champions Christian Kukuk and Checker (Comme Il Faut x Come On) to the runner-up spot with 1.14 seconds separating the two pairs. Third place went to Sweden’s Peder Fredricson on SV Vroom de La Pomme Z (Vigo d’Arsouilles x Untouchable) who was 3.13 seconds behind the winning time after a jump-off of eight horse-and-rider combinations. Latvia's Kristaps Neretnieks continued his great form to finish fourth aboard Valour (Verdi TN x Calido I), followed by Germany's Laura Klaphake in fifth riding Quizano VDL (Diamant de Semilly x Kannan).

"I actually enjoyed it a lot," Ahlmann said about his win. "I've been hanging around a bit in the middle of the pack over the past year or two, but before that, I also had an extremely good time with Taloubet, Codex, and Dominator. But they were absolutely exceptional horses, the kind you don't get to ride every day." 

With Dourkhan Hero, he has high hopes of following in those footsteps. "He delivered an absolutely brilliant performance here today," Ahlmann said. "In the jump-off, I looked at Christian (Kukuk) and thought the whole thing was 'done.' On the screen, it looked perfect. I really didn't expect it to work out. So, it was all the more wonderful that it turned out this way."

Kukuk himself was beaten but not too disappointed: "Overall, it wasn't perfect, so to be honest, I'm all the happier to have finished second," he said about his jump-off.

In fact, Kukuk was incredibly happy for Christian (Ahlmann). "When I rode out of the course, it was clear to me that Christian could do it with his genius riding. I left the door open, and I'm delighted that he made it through!"

Third-placed SV Vroom de La Pomme Z already won the CSIO3* Grand Prix in Mannheim three weeks ago. "But everything was a little smaller back then," Fredricson summarized. "Today is his first five-star placing. I know he's a very fast horse, but I still want to build him up, so I didn't risk everything in the jump-off."