Thore Hammer-Hansen

In the blink of an eye, that's another turf season in the books, which means that this is the final Seven Days column for 2024. Next week Adam Houghton will be starting a new column which aims to keep tabs on those two-year-olds who are rising three and could make more of a name for themselves next year. An eagle-eyed former Timeform employee, Adam guarantees that if the next Notable Speech (GB) is out there, about to make his debut on the all-weather this winter before marching on to Classic...

Eckhard Sauren's ultra consistent Assistent (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}--Anna Kalla {Ger}, by Kallisto {Ger}), who finished in the top four in five prior Group 1 contests, gained compensation for his second in last year's G1 Grosser Allianz Preis von Bayern with a late surge for glory in this year's renewal at Munich. The Henk Grewe trainee, who tuned up for this with a 3 1/4-length tally in last month's G3 Herbst-Trophy at Baden-Baden, employed patient tactics and was anchored in rear until well beyond halfway. Coming under pressure on...

Palladium (Ger) (Gleneagles {Ire}) could continue to follow in the footsteps of Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) after keeping the G1 Deutsches Derby trophy in the hands of owners Liberty Racing with his victory at Hamburg on Sunday. Trained by Henk Grewe and ridden by German-born jockey Thore Hammer-Hansen, Palladium ran out a surprise winner of the Classic as he edged ahead in the final strides to get the verdict by a neck, having raced away from the other principals after being brought over to the stand's side...

Repeating the trick of coming stand's side to win in Liberty Racing colours, Palladium (Ger) (Gleneagles {Ire}--Path Wind {Fr}, by Anabaa) got up late to provide his owners with back-to-back renewals of Hamburg's G1 Idee Deutsches Derby on Sunday. Only fourth in Cologne's G2 Union-Rennen last month, the Henk Grewe trainee benefitted from being close to the tepid early pace set by the G2 Derby Italiano hero Borna (Fr) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) before Thore Hammer-Hansen's calculated risk after the home turn. Losing lengths by crossing to the other rail, the...

The unforgettably named Thore Hammer-Hansen bade farewell to British racing at the end of last season to take up a retainer with leading German owner Eckhard Sauren. On Sunday he will go to post for the G1 Deutsches Derby as the leading rider in the country.  In many respects it was a homecoming for the young jockey, who was born in Cologne and spent some of his formative years in Baden-Baden, where his Danish-born father Lennart was riding and later training. It can also be regarded as a wise move. ...

Hamburg avoided a clash with Sunday's knockout phase of soccer's European Championships and its early-bird programme featured the €55,000 G3 Sparkasse Holstein Cup (Hamburger Stuten Meile) as the opening day highlight of the venue's G1 Deutsches Derby festival. This year's renewal of the one-mile staging post played host to a match-up of Classic distaffers, with last term's G1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) third Sea The Lady (Fr) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) eyeballing this year's G2 German 1000 Guineas third Three Havanas (Ger) (Havana Grey {GB}--Three Ducks {GB}, by Diktat...

While soccer's European Championships has witnessed just one successful penalty kick in 24 matches played in Germany thus far, Eckhard Sauren's €210,000 BBAG September yearling Penalty (Ger) (Frankel {GB}--Praia {Ger}, by Big Shuffle) made a mark of his own and added to his runner-up finish in last month's G2 German 2000 Guineas with a career best in Sunday's G3 35th Grosser Preis der Wirtschaft at Dortmund. Penalty backed up a five-length maiden win, going one mile at Dusseldorf in March, with a second over the same distance at Cologne the...

Jockey Thore Hammer Hansen will replace Bauyrzhan Murzabayev on Team Europe for Saturday's Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, Ascot Racecourse announced on Friday. Murzabayev is unable to participate. The German will ride alongside Frankie Dettori, who is team captain, and Olivier Peslier. Team Great Britain and Ireland, Team Ladies and Team Rest of the World rosters all remain unchanged. For more information on the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and the participating jockeys, please visit the Ascot website.

On a day when first-season sires getting off the mark was a theme, Tally Ho Stud's Inns Of Court (Ire) (by Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was in on the act as his daughter Ziggy's Dream (Ire) scored on debut at Doncaster. Sent off the 9-4 favourite for the five-furlong Download The At The Races App EBF Maiden S. for unraced juveniles, Middleham Park Racing's half-sister to the listed-placed No More Regrets (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) quickly had the lead under Thore Hammer Hansen. Tackled by Sioux Warrior (Ire) (Sioux Nation) passing halfway,...

There is a charming tradition for the large crowd at Baden-Baden races to applaud the runners as the field passes the post for the first time, never mind in the closing stages. For Sunday's racegoers, many of whom arrived with well-behaved dogs and sometimes less well-behaved children, the excitement level reached near-fever pitch as Frankie Dettori urged home German racing's current hero, Torquator Tasso (Ger). At the post the pair went down by just a head to the winner Mendocino (Ger), another son of Adlerflug (Ger) ridden by the man...