For the first time in 47 years, a female rider has won the German Show Jumping Derby. Cassandra Orschel prevailed in the 91st edition of the classic on Dacara.
The 29-year-old and her mare, who competed for Poland, were the only ones in the jump-off to remain flawless. Orschel became the fifth woman in the tournament’s 102-year history to secure victory.
The Brit Caroline Bradley was the last rider to triumph in Hamburg-Klein Flottbek in 1975.
Frederic Tillmann came second in the EUR 120,000 show-jumping after a fall in the jump-off with Comanche. Third place was taken by the European champion and three-time Derby winner André Thieme on Contadur with eight penalties.
Former eventing world champion Sandra Auffarth also had two downs with La Vista, but was slower than Thieme.
All in all, in front of 20,000 spectators, these four riders finished the world’s most difficult course in normal circulation with one down each. It thus remained on the course that had remained almost unchanged since 1920 at 159 clear rounds.
