February 17, 2025 
Zascha Nygaard Lill is light on 5* Grand Prix starts, but the 31-year-old Danish rider is making the starts she does have count.
After all, winning your first 5* Grand Prix is a milestone in any elite show jumper’s career. But the memory has to feel a little sweeter when you beat a two-time Olympic team gold medalist to do it.
On Sunday, February 16, Nygaard did just that aboard Com’On Stanley during the 1.60m Grand Prix at the Longines Hong Kong International Horse Show. The field of 21 international competitors included the likes of Yuri Mansur (BRA), Germany’s Richard Vogel (world no. 8), and Austria’s Max Kühner (world no. 9).
And, in order to take the title, Nygaard bested the notoriously speedy Paris Olympic team gold medalist Scott Brash and Hello Chadora Lady by just three hundredths of a second.
Nygaard Lill and Com’On Stanley have been jumping at the 1.60m height for just one year—and have won two of their seven starts.
The pair joined forces in 2022, when Nygaard began campaigning the now-10-year-old Westphalian stallion in the 7-year-old CSI Young Horse classes. They’ve been diligently climbing the ranks ever since.
@clipmyhorse.tv_official 0.03 Seconds Faster!! Zascha Nygaard Lill & Stanley 220 snatched victory in the LONGINES GRAND PRIX of Hong Kong ! With a time of 31.68 seconds, they edged out Scott Brash & Hello Chadora Lady, who finished the jump-off in 31.71 seconds—a true photo finish!
♬ Originalton – ClipMyHorse.TV
The 2025 season is shaping up to be especially promising for Danish rider, who, in addition to Com’On Stanley, currently boasts a number of horses ready to step-up to the top of the sport. What’s more, Nygaard Lill will have a chance to hone her 5* skills while making her full-season debut in the Global Champions League (GCL) with the Basel Cosmopolitans. She previously rode for the Istanbul Warriors in 2024 on a medical transfer, helping the team to their only 2024 victory of the season at GCL London.
The 5* Longines Grand Prix of Hong Kong, however, marks a career high for Nygaard Lill, who last took home a win at the 1.60m height during CSIO4* Sopot (POL) in 2024. Married to German show jumper Maxi Lill—with whom she has a two-year-old son—Nygaard Lill moved to Germany to train when she was just 16 years old.
That gamble, it appears, has paid off.
Under coach Andreas Kreuzer of Schockemoehle-Lewitz-Horses, Nygaard Lill is currently ranked at no. 115 in the world. And, if her recent performances are any indication, she’s likely to climb higher still.
