the Hamburg Dressage Derby has been won by an Austrian: 30-year old Katharina Haas won the Derby Final with horse change and edged out Germans Maik Kohlschmidt and Sarah Waldsperger
Traditionally the three riders invited for the Hamburg Dressage Derby Final are the top three ranked riders in the CDI Grand Prix
as of this year Hamburg amended its rules and riders who are squad listed with their Grand Prix horses can decline the invitation to ride the final in order to spare this horse
This meant that this year's Derby final was ridden by Grand Prix sixth place Katharina Hass
8th place Sarah Waldsperger from Wentorf near Hamburg and 9th placed Maik Kohlschmidt who lives in Denmark
The 30-year old Haas truly had to fight for her title as she did not achieve the highest points on her own Westfalian mare Let It Be (by Lisarro van de Helle - 67.500% but in fact earned more points on Kohlschmidt's Pasadena (69.033%) and Waldsperger's Royal Dream (69.067%)
Haas totalled 205,600 points which made her the winner of the prestigious Derby title
Kathi Haas Wins the DerbyHaas competed at the 2012 European Junior Riders Championship and 2019 European Under 25 Championships
but winning the Derby is her first major career highlight as a senior Grand Prix rider
"It was pretty exhausting,” Haas admitted to EQWO after three rides
“But all the horses were really fair and good to ride
Most of the mistakes actually happened to me with my own horse
I don't really know why?" When asked what the secret to her success was
she said that "it was my bonus" as she rides around ten horses a day in everyday life
Second place-getter Maik Kohlschmidt had the highest score on his own
Danish warmblood mare Pasadena (by Tailormade Lancelot)
while he earned 66.967% on Waldsperger's Royal Dream (by Royal Classic) and 66.733% on Let It Be
who is better known under her maiden name Sarah Garayhi
had bigger problems with the other two horses
The 53-year-old initially managed a 68.067% ride on her own horse
but with Let It Be (65,933%) and Pasadena (61,500%)
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