Thore Hammer Hansen hammers rivals to land the German Derby on Palladium

Thore Hammer Hansen: "I think it's the best chance in a Group 1 that I've had so far."

Thore Hammer Hansen: German native won his home country's DerbyCredit: Getty Images

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Thore Hammer Hansen landed the first Group 1 victory of his career in the German Derby at Hamburg on Sunday.

He took the prize on Liberty Racing's Palladium for Cologne trainer Henk Grewe, coming down the stands' side in the straight and pipping Andrasch Starke's mount Borna, who was on the opposite part of the track, by a neck.

The winning rider, 24, was born in Cologne and was inspired to become a jockey by his father Lennart Hammer Hansen, who rode more than 1,000 winners during his career.

He started out as an amateur in Germany with his father, then moved to Andre Fabre in France, before getting his big break when joining Richard Hannon in 2017, thanks to a friendship with William Buick.

Hammer Hansen rode 124 winners in Britain, notably landing the Ascot Stakes at a behind-closed-doors Royal Ascot as a 5lb claimer on Coeur De Lion for Alan King in 2020.

He has not ridden in Britain since last October, but has won Group 3 races in Germany this season on the Grewe-trained Penalty and Three Havanas.

Grewe was landing his second German Derby in four years having taken the prize in 2021 with Sisfahan. He also had Mr Hollywood finish runner-up 12 months ago.

The Andrew Balding-trained Mina Rashid finished 17th of the 18 runners under Jason Watson, while Oisin Murphy was sixth on Wintertraum and Luke Morris 16th on Thekingofmyheart.

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