September 28, 2026 
First Miami Beach. Then St. Tropez. Now Vienna. The Iron Dames have dominated the 2026 Longines Global Champions Tour, with three riders from Deborah Mayer’s all-female squad qualifying for LGCT Super Grand Prix. The latest to punch her ticket? Sophie Hinners.
The 28-year-old German topped an eight-horse jump off in Vienna aboard Iron Dames Combella to claim her first LGCT Grand Prix victory. Her blistering track at Schönbrunn Palace beat Sweden’s Peder Fredricson by half a second. Belgium’s Olivier Philippaerts rounded out the podium in third.
“I really wanted to go for it,” Hinners said after the win. “I had a bit of a different plan for the last three fences. I actually wanted to try the five strides and go around, but I had not the right jump over the third last, so then I was like, okay, we’re going to do six but then inside and go.”
The victory in Vienna secured Hinners a cool €101,838 in prize money and that all-important golden ticket to the GC Playoffs in Riyadh. The win-and-you’re-in format sees the winner of each Longines Global Champions Tour grand prix advance to the GC Playoffs this November where 15 riders will vie for a €1,250,000 purse.
“It means a lot to me,” Hinners said. “It’s the first time I will be able to compete in that class. And, I was always looking forward to that. And this year, it’s time for it.”
It’s not only the third Grand Prix win by an Iron Dame this season—Katrin Eckermann took victory in Miami Beach with Iron Dames Dialou Blue PS, while Anastasia Nielsen topped St. Tropez with ESI Rocky—but the latest in Hinners rapidly growing resume since being recruited by the grande dame herself.
Hinners is an Iron Dames OG. She was one of the original six when the project expanded from racing into equestrian sport in September 2023 and is currently campaigning five horses under the Iron Dames moniker: Combella, Kaleni Jo, Singclair, My Prins, and the promising 7-year-old Arezzo Man.
The impact that move has had on her career was immediate and marked.
On the Hinners’ highlight reel: First woman to win the World Cup Grand Prix in Verona (2024), team bronze medal at the European Championships (2025), team gold at the World Championships (2026) and an 80 point climb up the world rankings from 97 in 2024 to 17 this month. Then there’s the prize money. Three million of her $3.8 million in career earnings was earned since taking up the Iron Dames mantle. She’s already surpassed the $1 million mark this year—one of only nine riders to do so (Jumpr stats).
Said Hinners in an interview with Deutsche Welle in August:
“I never could have dreamed that I would get the chance to compete at this level so quickly, or experience what I have over the past two or three years. That is why I am incredibly grateful for her support—for always having my back, placing such complete trust in me and our team, and giving me these opportunities.”
There are three chances left to qualify for the Super Grand Prix: Rome, Cairo, and Rabat. Will another Dame make the cut?
