William Whitaker Wins German Derby Trial

[SJFAN]

Will Whitaker, not twenty years old till July, today won the Trial (and 2nd qualfier) for Sunday's Hamburg Derby, the oldest class of this sort in the world and the one upon which Hickstead's version is based. Riding Insul Tech Leonardo, the horse with whom he has won several Puissance classes including Olympia, he was 41st of 48 to start, knowing that nothing except a fast clear round would do. The exceptionally brave horse showed no hesitation at all coming down the Hamburg Bank and the clock stopped 0.42 seconds in front of the German pair of Andre Thieme and Nacorde who had only just taken over the lead. There were 6 clears in total and surprises included Ludger Beerbaum's veteran Goldfever who had no intention of going down the famous Bank. Will won €5,000 and has become the youngest person to win a class in the four year history of the GCT, which offers the biggest prize in show jumping for the Final in November.
The Derby itself takes place on Sunday afternoon, starting at 1.10 BST

 

[brighteyes]

I like William. Thrilled for him.

 

[lucretia]

He was great and as a side note Ludger will not be riding in the Derby proper. At 18 he thought that if Gold fever didnt want to go down the bank it was a bit late in his career to teach him!

 

[jumptoit]

That's fab missed his round but the course was very tricky indeed.

Realised I had been watching the wrong channel on clipmyhorse yesterday

Some very whizzy ponies that made good watching though!

 

[suzysparkle]

That is just brilliant!! Is it televised on Sunday anywhere does anyone know?

 

[3BayGeldings]

I was lucky to start watching it just as William started his round. It was brilliant to watch, and they were right about Leonardo showing no fear at the bank - he looked like he was ready to jump off from the top!

 

[SJFAN]

It goes out live on German TV which unfortunately means that the live video stream site www.clipmyhorse.org cannot show it. If we are lucky they may be able to make it available after the TV transmission.

Today saw a nice treble for GB as Will's cousin Ellen won the Puissance in Madrid with Ladina - it only went to 3 rounds, and Tim Stockdale won the main class (a 1.45m jump-off) in La Courneuve. Good international debut for the promising young Irish horse Kalico Bay.

 

[3BayGeldings]

I watched it on the GCT website - will they not be showing sunday too?

H x

 

[amyneave]

well done

 

[lucretia]

I believe that the Derby can be watched on the clip my horse website in other countries like England. they are just not allowed to show it in germany cos of the shows live tv deal so have some sort of geoblock for viewers there.