Breeding & Racing in Germany
David Conolly-Smith: www.galoppfoto.de - Frank SorgeIn order to be of assistance to our growing number of readers from abroad, we are with immediate effect publishing in every issue of Turf Times an English page, giving in compact form all the latest racing and breeding news from Germany in English. It will be written by the well-known racing journalist David Conolly-Smith, who has lived in Germany for many years. He is the German representative of the International Racing Bureau and writes regularly on German racing and breeding for the Racing Post, Irish Field, EBN, TRC and many other publications.
Thoroughbred Racing Commentary publishes every week its TRC Global Rankings, in which the leading human and equine performers worldwide are ranked according to a complicated points system based on results of the top races, mainly Group Ones, from all over the world. The aim is to establish a pecking order of the world´s most successful owners, trainers and jockeys similar to the rankings published for tennis players and golfers. It could be argues that the international classifications, based on handicap ratings, are more authoratiive, but the TRC rankings are also of great interest and certainly relevant to German racing.
It rained all day last Sunday at Dortmund. That is possibly good news for some following the long hot and dry spell we have endured for most of 2022, but it was certainly bad luck for the racecourse at Dortmund which was staging its best card of the year. The going was soft at the start of racing, but turned progressively heavier throughout the day. The track clearly favoured soft and heavy ground performers, and many of the runners were facing such condition for the first time. The result was that many races saw some very easy winners scoring by long distances.
After the excitements of the Grosse Woche at Baden-Baden the previous week, it was clear that racing in Germany last weekend would be at a much lower level. And so it proved; there was racing at five tracks, but Düsseldorf on Sunday had easily the best card and also the only black type event.
Düsseldorf had three races for 2yo´s, unusual for Germany, a maiden race, a BBAG sales race and the listed Junioren-Preis over a mile a race with a distinguished history which has been won in the past by many stars of German racing, Lando and Lomitas, to name just two. The BBAG sales race had easily the best prize-money and was won by Postman (Soldier Hollow), bred by the Matusche family and a 28,000 euros yearling. He is trained by Markus Klug, also the trainer of the maiden winner, Gestüt Röttgen´s homebred Aspirant (Protectionist).
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The Grosse Woche at Baden-Baden is now history and it must be said that on the whole the meeting must be rated a huge success. A new management team, Baden Galopp, took over last year; this was their biggest test and they came through with flying colours. Crowds were good, about 16,000 on the final day, the weather (mostly) fine and betting turnover also good enough, although slightly below expectations as a result of the small fields in some of the top races. We saw lots of classy racing and some thrilling finishes. There was also plenty of work for the stewards, and several jockeys received suspensions, including one very prominent name (see more below)
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We are now halfway through Baden-Baden´s Grosse Woche and have already seen some impressive performances and many races of great interest. As expected there was a foreign winner of the Goldene Peitsche last Sunday, the 17th this century so far, and it does seem that German-breds are not at their best over 1200 metres, a specialist distance over which runners from the U.K., France and Sweden are more likely to shine. The winner this time was Dr. Ali Ridha´s homebred Dubawi Legend (Dubawi), a 3yo trained by Hugo Palmer from his new stables owned by Michael Owen, who jumped well, led by three lengths after a furlong and made the rest of the running by the stands side rail to score by a length in a very fast time.
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After three successive Sundays with Group One races, last weekend´ s racing in Germany was a much lower level. The main events were two listed races for fillies, one at Düsseldorf over 1400 metres and one at Hanover over 2400 metres. These listed races, especially when restricted to fillies, can usually rely on strong fields with international challengers hoping for some black type, and in fact five of the eight runners in Düsseldorf were trained abroad, three in France, and one each in Sweden and Hungary.
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These lines are written before Alpinista (Frankel) runs in the Group One Yorkshire Oaks; but Ms Rausing´s great mare, unbeaten for the past two years, won again and gave another boost to German form. Alpinista won three Group One races in Germany last year, the best of which was the Grosser Preis von Berlin, in which she defeated subsequent Arc winner Torquator Tasso and subsequent Canadian Group One winner Walton Street. As a result the race was officially rated the 31st best race in the world in 2021, and easily the best race run in Germany. This is unlikely to be the case with the latest renewal, run last Sunday at Hoppegarten, and won by Godolphin´s supplemented 4yo gelding Rebel´ s Romance (Dubawi).
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The Group One Preis der Diana (German Oaks) was the big race in Germany last week and the Düsseldorf classic ended with a surprise with the 16-1 shot Toskana Belle (Shamalgan) making all the running to win narrowly for new owner Australian Bloodstock, giving trainer Andreas Wöhler his sixth success in the race. When the ground is riding fast, as it was last Sunday and indeed as it is almost always in this hot and dry summer, front-running tactics often pay off at Düsseldorf and that was certainly the case here. The shrewd trainer had noticed that top Australian jockey Kerrin McEvoy was in action in the Shergar Cup the previous day and had booked him for the ride a couple of weeks ago - even though Toskana Belle was not even in the race at that time. But the filly had worked well and was supplemented for 50,000 euros on Monday.
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From the German point of view, this past month of July was very satisfying, with several indications that German form is working out well. Obviously the excellent second place of Torquator Tasso (Adlerflug) in the King George was the highlight as far as the older horses are concerned. The 5yo entire now goes for the Grosser Preis von Baden and then the Prix de l´Arc de Triomphe, two races he won in 2021. He is now generally quoted as third favourite for the Arc and clearly has a good chance again, especially if the ground rides soft.
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An extremely interesting weekend is behind us, and obviously events at Ascot were the highlights, and not only from the German point of view. The King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is always one of the hottest races of the year, and last Saturday's edition, even with only six runners, was no different. It was generally believed that the two 3yo's on the field, both of whom had top classic form to their credit, would dominate the finish, but this was not to be – in the event, they both finished well beaten and occupied the last two places.
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The best race run in Germany last weekend was the listed BBAG Diana Trial at Mülheim, a late trial for the Group One Preis der Diana (Oaks) in three weeks' time. Twelve fillies lined up, with the locally-trained Narmada (Adlerflug) favourite; the Brümmerhof homebred had been runner-up last time in a similar event at Düsseldorf. However the race looked open with two raiders from France and one from Newmarket also in the field, and in the end it was one of these who triumphed, with Narmada again runner-up after looking likely to win a furlong out.
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