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The Young and The Experienced win on Day Two The German domination at Hamburg came to an end on the second day of the Deutsches Spring Derby Show which is hosting the German leg of the Global Champions Tour as two riders from Germany's greatest rivals took the biggest prizes of the day.
Great Britain's Will Whitaker, not quite twenty years old, won the Trial 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, show jumping's young pretender was nearly last to go, knowing that nothing except a fast clear round would do. Third at Hickstead last year, the pair showed no hesitation at all coming down the Hamburg Bank and the clock stopped 0.4 seconds in front of German challenger Andre Thieme who rode Nacorde. The German domination at Hamburg came to an end on the second day of the Deutsches Spring Derby Show which is hosting the German leg of the Global Champions Tour as two riders from Germany's greatest rivals took the biggest prizes of the day.
Great Britain's Will Whitaker, not quite twenty years old, won the Trial 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, show jumping's young pretender was nearly last to go, knowing that nothing except a fast clear round would do. Third at Hickstead last year, the pair showed no hesitation at all coming down the Hamburg Bank and the clock stopped 0.4 seconds in front of German challenger Andre Thieme who rode Nacorde. Former European Champion Christian Ahlmann was third on Perry Lee. William 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. This victory was followed by an Accumulator class which was perhaps not as exciting to start as it might have been when the heavens opened and torrential rain made the going a little slippery at times. Swiss rider Steve Guerdat initially took the lead on Ferrari but Edwina Alexander, taking advantage of a break in the weather got round in 47.5 to take the lead. She then had to sit it out and wait until virtually the end when Frenchman Roger Yves Bost (Jovis de Ravel) really showed how a speed class should be tackled and took 2.5 seconds off her time. That amount of improvement looked unbeatable but Ludo Phillipaerts (Sam) has never been one to avoid a challenge and he made every effort but could not quite catch the leader. 44.85 was easily enough to take second from Australia's leading lady. The Hamburg Derby proper is Sunday and details of schedules and TV coverage may be found at www.engarde.de. Tommorow sees the culmination of the GCT with the running of the Grand Prix of Germany worth 95'000Euro to the winner. Details of it and the live coverage will be found on www.globalchampionstour.com. Results Preis Accumlator Roger Yves Bost -Jovis de Ravel 65 points 44.0 sec
Ludo Phillipaerts-Sam 65 points 44.85
Edwina Alexander-Isolav Late Night 65 points 47.50 Pries der Deutschen Kredit Bank 1. William Whitaker Insul Tech Leonardo 0 penalties 104.4
2. Andre Thieme Narcorde 0 penalties 104.86
3. Christian Ahlmann Perry Lee 0 penalties 107.74
Quote. William Whitaker- "Everybody probably knows that I come from a huge family of riders and I find that it is a big advantage. Although my dad Ian does not rider, having Michael and John to give me advice is just priceless because they have done it all before. As for this show coming here is a great experience, with all these top riders and fantastic arena it was a real honour to win in this company. As for Leonardo, he seems to love difficult classes!" 
William Whitaker at the prize giving on Insul Tech Leonardo
Photo Lulu Kyriacou
Roger Yves Bost and Jovis de Ravel
Photo by Cymon Taylor
© Cyberhorse 2009 Lulu Kyriacou
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