Mario Stevens won the first big show jumping competition at the Derby tournament. The German champion from Molbergen in Lower Saxony secured the championship in Hamburg on Thursday.
In the jump-off, the 40-year-old showed the fastest clear ride on his ten-year-old gelding Starissa.
He had to tremble until the end, when Gerrit Nieberg on Ben, as the last starter in the jump-off, was on course with the best time without any mistakes up to the penultimate obstacle. Then a pole fell at the winner of the traditional Aachen Grand Prix. “My plan worked,” said Stevens on “NDR”. He wanted to lure the competition with his fast ride.
Second was Hans-Dieter Dreher from Eimeldingen on Elysium ahead of Irishman Shane Green on Cuick Star. Five out of ten couples remained without penalty points in the decisive round.
Stevens received EUR 20,000 of the EUR 80,000 prize money for his victory. The test was also the qualification for the Grand Prix on Saturday (3.20 p.m. / NDR).
For the first time since 2008, the EUR 300,000 competition is no longer part of the Global Champions Tour million series. The second highlight of the tournament classic is on Sunday (2 p.m./ARD and NDR) the 92nd Spring Derby, endowed with 153,000 euros, with famous obstacles such as the Wall or Pulvermanns Grab.