Fritz Drechsler (Jockey)

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Fritz Drechsler (born July 7, 1923 in Munich ; † October 20, 2013 in Baden-Baden ) was a German jockey and trainer .

Life

Fritz Drechsler was born in Munich in 1923. He was actually supposed to be a baker, but the proximity of his apartment to the Daglfing and Riem racecourses was very attractive and aroused his passion for equestrian sports . So in 1938 Fritz Drechsler began an apprenticeship as a horse racing jockey with Otto Krieg and Fritz Fösten. At the age of 15, his career began to emerge under the coach Otto Krieg on Munich's Theresienwiese , where the Oktoberfest is celebrated today. Before he finished his apprenticeship, Drechsler was drafted into the Wehrmacht and during World War II he took part in the conquest campaigns in France in 1940 and in Russia in 1941 .

After the end of the war , Fritz Drechsler finished his apprenticeship with Walter Held in 1945, who had fled with the Waldfrieder horses from Hoppegarten to Munich. At the end of 1949 he followed this to Cologne . Fritz Drechsler's rise as a jockey continued after the Waldfried service in 1951 with the horses of the Röttgen stud. Even decades later, in his memories, he expressed himself enthusiastically about that time, which was also thanks to the stud manager Manfred Graf von Lehndorff, who embodied a father figure for him. Drechsler celebrated further successes, won almost all major races and was the dominant jockey for the Röttgen and Schlenderhan studs for several years under the coaches Albert Schlaefke and Heinz Jentzsch . Because of these successes, Drechsler received a contract offer as a stable jockey from the renowned Schlenderhan Stud, which he accepted. By his own admission, he felt very comfortable working there. Overall, Fritz Drechsler made twenty-eight starts in the German Derby between 1946 and 1975 . He was one of the many top jockeys who were unable to triumph in the German Derby; However, he won second place four times, including at the 101st German Derby in Hamburg behind Alpenkönig , whom he later rode himself.

Drechsler rated winning the Grand Prix of Baden 1970 in Iffezheim with that Alpine King ahead of foreign competition as one of his most beautiful victories . With Lombard , he won both the Henckel race in Gelsenkirchen and the German St. Leger in Dortmund in 1970 . Drechsler celebrated his 1,500th jockey victory on April 13, 1975 with Antwerp from the Röttgen stud in Cologne, and on October 31, 1975 he contested his last race on the Cologne-Weidenpesch horse racing track at the Willi-Ostermann memorial race . Fritz Drechsler won eight jockey championships , a total of 1523 victories and was thus a member of the so-called Club 1000 .

In 1975 he returned to Iffezheim and began a coaching career there in early 1976 on his favorite racetrack. In this new function, which he held until 1992, he and his protégé Oranier won his first race as a coach on May 30, 1976 in Neuss and he achieved fourteen victories in his first year as a coach. In the seventeen years as a trainer he looked after good gallopers, above all Justus , who won the trophy of the Bavarian breeding race in Munich and the Otto Schmidt race in Hamburg, as well as Attelage , Georgie’s Prince , Nephrit and Bepone . In total, he recorded over 600 wins as a coach.

Drechsler was also known by the nickname "Gentleman Fritz", which he owed to his popularity with the audience and his colleagues as well as his particularly charming appearance. In 1990 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit (Merit Medal) .

Fritz Drechsler died on October 20, 2013 after a serious illness at the age of 90 in a hospice in Baden-Baden.

Fonts

Awards

  • 1990: Federal Cross of Merit (Merit Medal) for his services in the training of youngsters and as recognition of his fairness in sport
  • 2012: Honorary award "Monsun" of the Gallop Club Süddeutschland for his services to the southern German horse racing

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fritz Drechsler. In: Trainer-Jockeys.de. Deutscher Trainer- & Jockeyverband eV, accessed on March 30, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Traute König, Peter König: Drechsler, Fritz. (PDF; 74 KB) In: jockeys-deutschland.de. Retrieved March 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Mourning for Fritz Drechsler. The "gentleman" dies at the age of 90. In: german-racing.com. Directorate for Thoroughbred Breeding and Races eV, October 20, 2013, accessed on March 30, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c press release: Honor for Fritz Drechsler. In: turf-times.de. Frauke Delius, October 24, 2013, accessed March 30, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b c d frewen: Horse racing stories . Once upon a time, 35 years ago. In: blogspot.com. March 31, 2011, accessed March 30, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b c Daniel Delius: Fritz Drechsler died. In: turf-times.de. Frauke Delius, October 24, 2013, accessed March 30, 2019 .
  7. ^ A b Karl Reinbothe: Nachblättert. 150 years of the Iffezheim racecourse . epubli, Berlin 2009, People from the Turf World. Fritz Drechsler, S. 114 f .
  8. ↑ a b c Ex-jockey and trainer legend Fritz Drechsler has passed away. In: galopponline.de. DSV Deutscher Sportverlag GmbH, October 20, 2013, accessed on March 30, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Fritz Drechsler. Biography. In: whoswho.de. Christian Kaiser, accessed March 30, 2019 .

literature

  • Trust king: the bagge has to run. Fates and encounters from horse racing. Self-published by König, Dreieich 1996. ISBN 3-00-000486-6 .
  • Britta Stühren: "Gentleman Fritz" wood turner. His life between stable and racetrack (= hippological delicacies ; issue No. 12). German Horse Museum, Verden (Aller), 2013. (Without ISBN.)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wood turner, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gentleman Fritz (scene name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German jockey and trainer
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH 20th October 2013
Place of death Baden-Baden