Evelyn Eger Wins the 2025 Palm Beach Dressage Derby

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2025 Palm Beach Dressage Derby

The popular Palm Beach Derby returned for its 42nd anniversary edition on Friday 28 February 2025. The exciting knock-out contest pits riders head-to-head to ride a Prix St. Georges on an unfamiliar horse with just five minutes to warm up before tackling the test in the main arena.

This year, the ever-popular class culminated in a tussle between Spain’s Paula Matute Guimón and Evelyn Eger (GER). Both athletes emerged victorious from the semi-final knock-out rounds earlier in the evening.

Matute Guimón rode a sympathetic test on Karen Pavicic and Thomas Baur’s 13-year-old Hanoverian Totilas x Donnerhall gelding Totem for 71.654%. The test is marked by three CDI judges, and the spectator judging score makes up 25% of the final mark.

Stepping into the stirrups second and making her Derby debut, the 27-year-old Eger coaxed a 74.89% test from Totem. It was bolstered by high marks for the walk and canter pirouettes, as well as a final spectator judging score of 77.353%.

“I’m super honored to do my first Derby experience here in Wellington at my first season here; it’s super special,” said Eger, who works for Hof Kasselmann. “To prepare myself, actually I just did my job because I’m used to riding so many different horses in a day. Of course it was a big challenge to go directly into the test, but we had such nice horses today—thanks to the owners—that it was a pleasure to ride them.”

The 2025 Derby riders: Matute, Eger, Blais, Ots

Eger went straight into the difficult exercises in her warm-up to gauge Totem’s reactions. “I wanted to get a feel for them without making him tired or putting unnecessary kilometers on the horse,” she said. “Totem was nervous, so I just tried to relax him and give him a good feeling.”

Of her first Derby experience she added, “It was so much fun! Even when you know your horse it’s a challenge to ride a test, but this is something else. I enjoyed seeing how the other riders handled the horses; I’d love to do another Derby.”