Sensation in Hamburg-Horn: Dardanos wins the German Galopp Derby as the greatest outsider in history

An outsider makes history

Second place went to Chiefland under Cieren Fallon, ahead of Salitos ridden by Bauyrzhan Muzabayev. Remarkably: all three podium horses belong to the Liberty Racing consortium. Kairos under Leon Wolff finished in fourth place. The clear joint favourite Englishman, ridden by the female jockey Sibylle Vogt, on the other hand managed only sixth.

Trainer Andreas Wöhler celebrated his sixth triumph in the German Derby with Dardanos – after earlier victories with horses from his stable such as Fantastic Moon and Palladium. The coach, based near Gütersloh, was overwhelmed: „Das ist unglaublich, ich bin sprachlos. Er hatte sich verbessert, aber dass er das Derby gewinnt, das ist schon außergewöhnlich.“ The total prize money distributed for the race amounted to 650,000 euros.

The only foreign guest runner, Bay of Brilliance, finished a distant 17th out of 18 participants. While in the winner's enclosure the rival competitors waited for Panov with champagne, Dardanos' older brother Delgardo had stood no chance in the previous year's Derby – which made the contrast all the more striking.

Liberty Racing dominates the podium

The winning odds of 848:10 underline the sensation: Never before in the history of the blue riband had a horse won with such low expectations from the bettors.

Trained from Stall Bergholz near Gütersloh and once snapped up for a knockdown price, Dardanos catapulted himself into the annals of German flat racing on Derby Sunday.

Background: Stall Bergholz and its horses

With this success, Stall Bergholz adds another exclamation point to an already remarkable breeding achievement: Dardanos' sire had previously provided a Derby runner in Delgardo.

For Andreas Wöhler, who has now entered the winner's book of the Hamburg Derby for the sixth time, Dardanos is proof that unremarkable candidates can hit top form at the right moment.