Hoppegarten horse racing track

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Aerial view of the racetrack
Entrance area

The horse racing track Hoppegarten is a traditional horse racing track founded in 1868 with an area of 430  hectares in Hoppegarten east of Berlin . By the First World War , Hoppegarten had developed into the most important German racetrack and the meeting point for social and political life in Berlin, often drawing up to 40,000 spectators. After the political change , the facility and the racing operations found themselves in a difficult financial situation. Nevertheless, some races could be held. In March 2008, an entrepreneur took over the racecourse from the Treuhandanstalt and carried out extensive renovations. Today the racecourse is under nature protection and since 2013 it has had the status of a “nationally valuable cultural monument”. Racing has also been running regularly since 2008. Up to eleven racing days take place each year, which also attract international racing teams.

history

Horse racing track (postcard from 1912)
1959 the "Great Price of the GDR"

The race track is located on a hop growing area from the time of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I.

Ascent to the most important German racetrack

In 1866, the Berlin Horse Racing Association was looking for a site to build a new racetrack, because the racecourse at the Tempelhof parade ground no longer met the technical and representative requirements. The Vorwerk Hoppegarten , a Nebenhof his good , leased Heinrich von Tresckow (1823-1886) in 1866 to the North German Union stud . After court stable master Fedor von Rauch had convinced King Wilhelm of Prussia of the plans for a horse racing track in Hoppegarten, a trial race day with three hunting races was carried out on the site on October 9, 1867 with short-term wooden grandstands , which went well. The Union Club was founded on December 15, 1867 with 36 members from all over Germany . The founders included Karl von Lehndorff , Johannes Maria von Renard , Ernst von Treskow , the publisher and sports journalist Fedor André, August von Maltzan ( head stable master ), Victor I. Duke von Ratibor and Hugo zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen . From then on, the racecourse and the club were inextricably linked until 1945.

German special postage stamp "125 years of the Hoppegarten horse racing track" from 1993

The race track construction was financed by donations from the club members and share certificates from the Union Stud and the Berlin racing club. The Berlin builder Carl Bohm visited the Longchamp racecourse and the Chantilly Castle racecourse and used them as a model for the design of the Hoppegarten racecourse. In the spring of 1868, the earthworks began: a consistent layer of humus was applied to the sand, irrigation pipes were laid for the lawn and drainage was installed for the ground . The creation of the 1200 meter straight contributed to the later popularity of the racetrack. An obstacle course and a flat course were built, which, however, had not yet been completed for the inauguration. The Prussian King Wilhelm I and the Federal Chancellor of the North German Confederation Otto von Bismarck opened the Hoppegarten horse racing track with four obstacle races on May 17, 1868. The winner of the first race held on this racetrack, the Hoppegarten Prize , was then Lieutenant von Bülow on Missunde . The journey to this first day of racing was still difficult, as the Hoppegarten train station was only built around 1870, partly due to the urging of the Union Club.

Important races have been held in Hoppegarten since the opening. The most famous races were the Diana Classic Mare Race (2000 meters), which has been taking place since 1868, the Classic Henckel Race (1600 meters) since 1871, the Union Race and the Berlin Grand Prix (both 2000 meters). With the proceeds, the club was able to purchase the Treskow site in 1874 for 296,000  thalers . The introduction of the totalizer (Toto) in 1872 secured the financing of the races and enabled the construction of massive grandstands from 1886–1888 instead of the old wooden grandstands. The banning of the betting machine from 1882 to 1886 and the Sunday racing ban from 1891 by Wilhelm II hampered the growth of the racecourse. However, the lifting of the ban in 1903, the new toto law of 1905 and the new racing regulations of 1912 ultimately encouraged development again. Hoppegarten had developed into the most important German racetrack and had become the center of social and political life in Berlin. Frequently up to 40,000 spectators saw the races and up to 1,000 horses stood in the stables in Hoppegarten and neighboring Neuenhagen .

Impact of the world wars

Award ceremony by Reich President von Hindenburg in 1930 at the Hindenburg race

With the beginning of World War I , the British and American jockeys, who had previously dominated the racing scene, were refused entry to races in Hoppegarten. Most of the American jockeys left Germany during the war, while many of the British nationals, regardless of whether they were coaches or jockey, were interned in the POW camp in Ruhleben between 1914 and 1918 . This did not detract from the popularity of the horse races, as German riders now consistently filled the lists of winners. After the end of the war, no more races took place in Hoppegarten due to the renovation of the buildings within the racetrack and the redesign of the facility; the races during this time had been moved to the Grunewald racetrack . In 1934, after the racecourse in Berlin-Grunewald was closed, the main grandstand was expanded to include a side extension so that the racecourse could hold 45,000 spectators at the 1935 Grand Prix . The global economic crisis had brought hard times for racing and thoroughbred breeding , but by the end of the 1930s the economic situation in Hoppegarten had completely stabilized again.

The Second World War gave Hoppegarten one more prestigious race. After the air raids on Hamburg in 1943, the derby was moved here. Even in 1944 horse races were still taking place - but with few visitors and without the totalizator and with correspondingly little income. In the late autumn of 1944, the main grandstand was finally converted into an armaments factory. The “big trek ” began in March 1945 : over 100 thoroughbred horses were ridden by jockeys to Schleswig-Holstein within three weeks . Almost all of the horses made it safely to their destination, and many were then taken over by the British Army . The racehorses that remained in Hoppegarten were confiscated by the Soviet troops after the end of the war or slaughtered by the starving population.

Niche existence with "nationally owned gallops"

On July 14, 1946, another official race was ridden in Hoppegarten. For this purpose, a large part of the remaining racehorses scattered all over Germany had been found. However, the papers for the animals were often missing, so that their thoroughbred ancestry could no longer be proven. Despite these efforts, there was a chronic shortage of horses in the races from 1947 to 1949. In 1950 there were finally only twelve horses left to compete, so non-thoroughbreds were allowed to take part in the so-called “farmer's race” - preferably farm animals.

The Union-Klub was expropriated as a large landowner through the land reform in 1946/1947 and the racetrack was subordinated to the Brandenburg provincial administration. In 1952 ownership was transferred to the state-owned racing company Hoppegarten , and in 1974 VEB Vollblutrennbahnen , based in Hoppegarten, took over the management of all racetracks in the GDR. The breeding and racing operations of the GDR played hardly any role internationally and received little attention from the government. The International Meeting of Thoroughbreds of Socialist Countries , which took place eight times in Hoppegarten between 1954 and 1989, could not change this either. Horse racing led an exotic niche existence and its level continued to decline until 1989.

Financial difficulties after the turnaround and a new future

Club grandstand

On March 31, 1990, the first German-German racing day was celebrated with a large number of visitors - but East German horse racing was not competitive. In the first few years after the fall of the Wall, the racetrack was under the supervision of the Treuhandanstalt . In the following years there were several major events such as the Berlin Grand Prix , the BMW European Championship and the Berlin-Brandenburg Trophy , and even camel races were held. The betting turnover in 1993 was already nine million marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 7 million euros), but the racecourse was still unable to build on the successful times before the world wars.

Hoppegarten came back into the possession of the Union Club, but large sums of money were necessary to maintain and expand the racetrack. On November 8, 1999, the state of Brandenburg made a total of five million marks available for investment purposes. The Union Club went bankrupt in 2005 and the horse racing track became the property of Bodenverwertungs- und -verwaltungs GmbH . The racing club Hoppegarten , founded in 2006, took over the organization of the races for the year 2007. However, the first three of ten planned racing days had to be canceled for economic reasons. The start of the season was only possible thanks to a grant of 150,000 euros from the municipality of Hoppegarten .

In March 2008, the fund manager Gerhard Schöningh acquired the racetrack - Hoppegarten is the only racetrack in Europe that is completely privately owned. The racetrack was gradually renovated and the training center expanded. Since 2008, several racing days have taken place every year, in which international racing teams also take part. The number of visitors to the racetrack is also increasing. The racecourse is now an integral part of German horse racing and has established itself on the race days as a destination for families from Berlin and the surrounding area. On July 21, 2013, the 18-year-old amateur rider Dennis Schiergen wrote racing history on Nymphea in Hoppegarten when he won the 123rd Grand Prix of Berlin . The Hoppegarten racecourse closed the 2013 season again with increased visitor numbers. The betting turnover per race day in 2013 was kept at the previous year's level. By 2015, the number of visitors doubled compared to 2008, and betting sales rose by 80% per race.

See also

literature

This article is based on the books listed below and the article in the Tagesspiegel . All information - such as costs and visitor numbers - was taken from these publications, unless otherwise indicated by individual records.

  • Horst Seyfarth: Hoppegarten. Germany's most beautiful horse racing track. New Life Publishing House, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-355-01378-1 .
  • Thomas Krüger: Hoppegarten. History of a racetrack. Ullstein, Berlin 1994.
  • Gerd von Ende: Berliner Rennfieber - gallop and trot to 150 years of Hoppegartener Turf , Verlag tredition, Hamburg, 2018.
  • Hoppegarten: from the emperor to the theme park . In: Der Tagesspiegel . March 24, 2001, accessed November 26, 2014.

Web links

Commons : Galopprennbahn Hoppegarten  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Ascot is right next to Hoppegarten . In: Die Welt , August 6, 1999, accessed on May 2, 2020.
  2. Hoppegarten racecourse included in the monument promotion program. At: hoppegarten.com , accessed on May 2, 2020
  3. Prince Flori triumphs in Hoppegarten. In: Berliner Morgenpost , October 3, 2008, accessed on May 2, 2020
  4. ^ Berlin turns to Racing, Crowd Applauds Victories of an American Jockey. In: The New York Times , May 26, 1915, accessed February 10, 2013
  5. ↑ Report of the Court of Auditors on Hoppegarten ( memento of November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) of December 20, 2006
  6. Manuel Holscher: Relief in Hoppegarten. Tomorrow is the first day of horse racing of the year with 74 horses in eight competitions . In: Berliner Morgenpost. May 26, 2007; Retrieved July 17, 2007.
  7. Hoppegarten racecourse sold . In: Welt Online . March 18, 2008; Retrieved April 2, 2008.
  8. 2012 a total of 74,100 spectators in Hoppegarten . In: Märkische Oderzeitung . November 29, 2012; Retrieved February 19, 2013.
  9. The new closeness to Hoppegarten . In: Berliner Zeitung . April 19, 2013; Retrieved May 7, 2013.
  10. Berlin Grand Prix in Hoppegarten - The outliers win. In: Der Tagesspiegel . July 21, 2013; Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  11. Positive season balance 2013 - Rennbahn Hoppegarten relies on repeat offenders ( Memento from February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) At: Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg . November 29, 2013; Retrieved December 4, 2013.

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 47 "  N , 13 ° 40 ′ 28"  E