The Hamburg Jumping Derby is a traditional class that this year returned for its 91st edition. No matter the weather, it is always a full house in Hamburg for the derby and a twelve-fault round can be celebrated like a victory.
Even though the course stays the same year after year and all riders know exactly what to expect, the derby is always full of surprises and not many riders have cleared the course consisting of 17 fences and 26 efforts that runs over 1250 meters. This year none of them did, instead the spectators were in for a treat with a jump-off between the four four-faulters.
Frederic Tillmann gave all the credit to the only 8-year-old Comanche v. after finishing both the first round and the jump-off on four faults, to finish second after Cassandra Orschel.
All photos © Jenny Abrahamsson for World of Showjumping.
Ralf-Werner König and the 17-year-old San Franzisko finished the challenging course, but they had to live with a higher number of faults.
Kai Rüder and Cross Keys finished on eight faults to take the 6th place.
This huge oxer made of birch causes less problems than might be expected.
Max-Hilmar Borchert celebrating his horse Cent-blue and his only eight faults over the derby course. In the end, Borchert was the fastest of the three eight-faulters to take the 5th place.
Halifax jumped Thorsten Schiltz out of the saddle over the huge hedge oxer. Schiltz landed in the mud, but seemed fine leaving the arena.
The oldest rider in the class was the 67-year-old Karl-Heinz Markus, that made is derby debut together with the 9-year-old Chuck.
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Dermott Lennon and his derby specialist Gelvins Touch ended up in trouble on the way down from the bank.
The fence just after the derby bank caused problems for many, and only a few of the starters managed to clear it.
In-form Tobias Meyer, with Quintus-H, got into trouble on his first attempt on this fence. The second time it went better, but with one more refusal later on in the course, the two had to leave the arena.
Sandra Auffarth, who already placed third twice in the Hamburg Derby, delivered a very stylish round with Nupafeed's La Vista to take the fourth place this time.
To get down from the bank in the optimal way to be able to clear the upright after is just one of the many questions asked around the course.
The combination at 12a and b consists of two verticals with only one single rail, and has a very short distance in between. Derby specialist Shane Been with Can Ya Makan (below) jumped the a-element, but got into trouble on b. Still they ended the course with only twelve faults to take the 11th place.
Benjamin Wulschner, who won the second derby qualification with Bangkok Girl PP, was disappointed when ending Sunday's derby with twelve faults - taking the 8th place.
As many horses before him, Andre Thieme's Contadur misjudged the huge hedge oxer. This year, the hedges had been cut way shorter to make it easier for the horses to understand. With only four faults in the first round, Thieme got another chance in the jump-off though where he had eight faults to eventually finish third.
This is the second fence of the course; a huge oxer placed next to the spectators. Here jumped by Annika Kühn and Dugi Otok.
The Hamburg arena was packed during the derby; here Pato Muente with Varenne.
It was not Mark McAuley and Miebello's turn to win the derby. After an unexpected fault on the fence up on the bank and a following fault two jumps later, McAuley decided to retire the gelding.
Then