The English page - A tale of four St. Legers

The Preis des Gestüts Wittekindshof -  133rd Deutsches St. Leger at Dortmund was the main event last weekend in Germany; like many other races with this name, it is now open to older horses, but it was a three-year-old that won, Gestüt Auenquelle´s homebred Oriental Eagle (Campanologist), who made all the running and in the end won easily by a length and a quarter at odds of over 12-1. Moonshiner (Adlerflug) ran on well for second place, with another outsider Khan (Santiago) third and the favourite Sound Check (Lando) – who would not have been suited by the very soft and sticky ground - only fourth.

Oriental Eagle had won his previous race, a valuable sales race at Baden-Baden, in spectacular fashion and was clearly underestimated here. His connections however almost pulled him out of the race, as they feared that he would not handle the ground. Their fears were ungrounded, and they have been rewarded with a Group Three victory and a new rating of 108 (GAG 94). Jockey Jack Mitchell timed it right – it was his first classic win. Oriental Eagle is by the ill-fated Campanologist, whose early death was a big blow to German breeding; he is a half-brother to the smart Mark Johnston-trained stayer Oriental Fox (Lomitas) and closely related to multiple group race winner Oriental Tiger (Tiger Hill). Where he goes next is not clear, but the Grosser Preis von Bayern in Munich on November 1^st is a possibility.

The other black type race last weekend was a listed race for fillies and mares at Hanover, and  French trainer Henri-Alex Pantall saddled the winner here, the Godolphin homebred Discursus (Dubawi), who scooted clear in the straight to win by 4 ¼ lengths. Gerald Mossé had been booked to ride, but was unable to make it, and André Best was on board. Pantall has become a real specialist for these German black type races and this was his 42^nd success in one. Needless to say, the winner is extremely well-bred, being out of Sweet Solera winner Discourse (Street Cry). Where she goes next is unclear, but she won so easily that she can probably make her mark at a higher level, although, to be honest, last Sunday´s opposition was not too strong.

The Dortmund race was not only the only St. Leger to be run last weekend. At Doncaster we had “the real thing,” the world´s oldest classic and the only St. Leger, as far as this writer knows, still restricted to three-year-olds. The winner Capri is by Galileo, is trained by Aidan O´Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, and could go next for the Arc; just like the previous week´s Irish St. Leger winner, Order of Saint George. This writer was however at Vienna last Saturday to see the Austrian St. Leger, won by the German-trained Iraklion (Areion), trained in Hanover by Christian Sprengel and partnered by Kazakhstan jockey Bauyrzhan Murzabayev. Iraklion was the highest-rated runner and had easily the best form; he started at odds-on, but he only won by the skin of his teeth. Forced to make the running, which he obviously did not enjoy at all, he dropped back in the straight, but then came with a very strong late run to get up on the line and win by a nose from Czech-trained Icar (Halling).

This was not a classy race by any means; in the unlikely event of Iraklion ever meeting Capri or Order of Saint George he would still be running while they were being unsaddled. But that is not the point; it was a good piece of race planning by Sprengel (“we decided on this race a long time ago”) and an excellent ride by Murzabayev. More significantly, this was the first race run at historic Freudenau racecourse in Vienna for nine years. The track was still in excellent condition, the stands – though old-fashioned-  were fit for purpose, the old charm and the wonderful Kaiserloge (Imperial Box) still there. This was an experiment, and probably made a loss financially with poor weather keeping the crowd down, but it must be hoped that it will be repeated; Austrian racing is in a poor state and needs all the help it can get. This sleeping beauty of a racecourse, now mainly used for wedding receptions and similar events, deserves to be kept alive.

This weekend´s big meeting is at Cologne, and Sunday´s Preis von Europa is the penultimate German Group One race of the year. It cannot be said that it has attracted a very strong field; Germany´s two best older horses, Iquitos (Adlerflug) and Dschigis Secret (Soldier Hollow) both run in next week´s Arc, and the winner´s purse of 100,000 euros (and then subject to deductions) is not enough these days to tempt genuine Group One runners from France, the U.K. or Ireland. There are question marks over all eight runners, five of whom are three-year-olds. Four of them ran in the German Derby in early July, the winner of that race Windstoss (Shirocco) runner-up Enjoy Vijay (Nathaniel) as well as the seventh Parviz (Lope de Vega) and the 13^th Colomano (Cacique), who actually started favourite and can be excused that defeat as he was struck into. The form of this year´s German Derby has not worked out well, and all of these four have been well beaten since.

The other three-year-old in the field is Real Value (Rip van Winkle), who has been supplemented; he made all the running last time to win a small Group Three at Hanover, with odds-on favourite Enjoy Vijay well below form in fourth. As he is owned by race club president Eckard Sauren, he is possibly running for prestige reasons. Of the three older horses, Savoir Vivre (Adlerflug) is by far the most interesting. A close second in last year´s German Derby, just in front of Dschingis Secret, he then ran a great race in the 2016 Arc; he finished eighth and was the best-placed three-year-old in the field. He has only run twice this year- unplaced both times at Deauville- but if he is anywhere his best form of 2016 he will take a lot of beating here.

David Conolly-Smith