Breeding & Racing in Germany

The possibility of making supplementary entries to an important group race, usually for a much increased entry fee, can often completely change the complexion of the race. We saw this at Munich last Sunday and we shall see it again at Düsseldorf this coming Sunday. The main event at Municvh was the Group One Grosser Dallmayr-Preis, Germany´s best middle distance race. This looked like cutting up badly until the news came that French trainer Jerome Reynier was going to supplement his 6yo gelding Skalleti (Kendargent), one of the best horses in Europe over this trip, last time out winner of the Group One Prix d´Ispahan (form well boosted since) and last October runner-up in an extremely strong field for Ascot´s Champion Stakes. These pieces of form- and plenty more posted by Skalleti, were vastly superior to anything his German rivals could claim, and not surprisingly he started as long odds-on favourite.

Following the five group races run during the Hamburg Derby meeting at the beginning of the month, mid-July is obviously a quiet period in German racing, and there were no group races run here last week, just four listed events, two of them restricted to fillies and mares. In actual fact all four of them were won by the so-called weaker sex, and in three cases the winner made all the running to score easily.

The important Hamburg Derby meeting started yesterday (Wednesday). The meeting, which goes on until Sunday, features five group races and several listed races as well as some valuable sales races. It was therefore clear that last weekend´s racing would pale into insignificance by comparison. The only race of interest was the Group Three Dortmund Grand Prix over 1750 metres. This is the first German pattern race of the year in which three-year-olds take on their elders, and over the years some top 3yo´s have won here, notably in 2006 and 2007 Lord of England and Soldier Hollow. Both of them won Munich´s Grosser Dallmayr-Preis, Germany´s best middle distance race, next time out and both are now highly successful sires.

Cologne´s Union-Rennen, the oldest race in the German calendar and dating back to 1834, is run exactly three weeks before the German Derby and is always regarded as the most reliable trial for the Hamburg classic. This was true in the pre-war days, when it was run in Berlin, but is equally true of the modern period; the race moved to Cologne in 1947 after the division of Germany. In recent times it has been won by many top level performers, including three winners of the German Derby in the past seven years. In both 2018 and 2019 the winner and the runner-up went on to fill the same two spots in the Derby. So this year´s winner Stall Lintec´s homebred Best of Lips (The Gurkha) has a lot to live up to.

The racecourse at Düsseldorf, situated on a wooded hill known as the Grafenberg, is undoubtedly one of the most attractive in Germany. Last Sunday´s fixture, with one of the best cards so far this season including two Group Two races, took place in perfect early summer weather, but of course without racegoers, so that there was very little atmosphere, a great shame as there was excellent racing with some notable winners. The ground had dried out after the miserable cold and wet weather which had been experienced for most of April and May, and the going was on the fast side. When conditions are like this, front-runners are heavily favoured at this rather sharp track, and that was the case again on Sunday, when five of the eleven races were won by a horse making all the running, which sometimes looks easy but requires great skill from the jockey in the saddle, who has to judge the pace exactly right.