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French jockey Soufiane Saadi and Fountain of Time. www.galoppfoto.de

Autor: 

David Conolly-Smith

TurfTimes: 

Ausgabe 563 vom Freitag, 12.04.2019

So, Brexit has been postponed until October, which means up to six more months of agony, as the hopeless and hapless U.K. government under the incompetent Theresa May tries to dig itself out of the hole caused by David Cameron´s disastrous referendum. However there is one item of good news: it was confirmed this week that the E.U. has agreed that the U.K. will in any case be granted “third country status” after Brexit regarding the free movement of live animals. At the moment the tripartite agreement between the U.K. France and Ireland regulates this, and third country status basically means the status quo will be maintained. This is of great importance to the U.K. racing and bloodstock industries and also especially to the Irish, as most Irish horses travel via England when coming to the mainland. By extension it can also only be positive for Germany.

There has always been a number of runners in Germany from countries like Belgium, Holland or Austria, where there is even less racing and prize-money usually even lower than here, but to be frank, these are usually only small fry operating at the lower levels. As far as black type races are concerned, only runners from the three countries in the tripartite agreement really count.

Last Sunday we had the first French-trained winner of the year when Godolphin´s homebred Fountain of Time (Iffraaj) won the listed Preis des Gestüt Röttgen for fillies and mares over a mile at Hoppegarten. Fountain of Time was trained last year by Charlie Appleby but transferred to Henri-Alex Pantall in the autumn. Although bred in Ireland, she has basically a French background and her dam Key to Peace (Kheleyf) was twice listed-placed there. Her form in England and France was quite decent, but certainly not outstanding, and in fact she looked to have a tough task on ratings, but punters were persuaded by Godolphin´s worldwide run of form and also her trainer´s excellent record in German listed races, and sent her off as even money favourite. They were spot on too, as after taking an early lead, she made the rest under jockey Soufiane Saadi and was not hard pressed to hold runner-up Nica (Kamsin) by half a length, with the fast-finishing Serena (Soldier Hollow) more than 3 lengths back in third. This was probably her best ever performance and the German handicapper has put her up to GAG 89 (= international 98) in consequence.

There were also two informative races for three-year-olds on the Hoppegarten card, which were won by the favourites, both trained by Andreas Wöhler and ridden by his stable jockey Eduardo Pedroza, just returned from a successful winter stint in Qatar. First, Wittekindshof´s homebred Shining Pass (Raven´s Pass) made all to take the nine furlongs race for unraced fillies, but she only held on by a short head in the face of a determined challenge from Stall Ullmann´s homebred Guardian Fay (Soldier Hollow). They finished well clear of the other runners and as they both ran green, considerable improvement can be expected; they are also both entered in the Preis der Diana (German Oaks) in August, a race that has been won twice in recent years by close relatives of Shining Pass, but whether they will be up to that class remains to be seen.

Wöhler had two runners in the other race for 3yo´s, a mile maiden, and had the satisfaction of seeing them finish first and second. Even more satisfying was the fact that he and his wife Susanne bred and own the winner Lacento (Harbour Watch), who scored in good style. They had bought his dam Night Party (Dansili) at Tattersalls February Sale in 2015 for 62,000 guineas, where she was part of a Godolphin draft, having originally cost Godolphin 210,000 euros as a yearling, Night Party´s dam La Salina was a half-sister to the outstanding champion Lomitas, who of course was trained by Wöhler. He seems to have made a smart purchase here, as Lacento (Night Party´s first foal) looks a fine prospect, although unlikely to stay much beyond a mile. He won very easily here after taking the lead two out, and is likely to go next for the Dr. Busch-Memorial, and then, all being well, for the German 2,000 Guineas.

There was also racing this week on Monday, with another interesting race for 3yo maidens, this time over ten furlongs. On paper this looked a very strong maiden, as all seven of the colts entered are in the Deutsches Derby, while two of the three fillies are in the Preis der Diana. In the end it was a filly who scored, Gestüt Schlenderhan´s Mythica (Adlerflug), who made all the running and kept on well. She was bred by Stall Ullmann, but is basically a homebred, as most of the Ullmann horses will be running this year in the family´s Schlenderhan colours. Mythica does not have a typical Schlenderhan (or Ullmann) pedigree, but goes back to an old French family of the Aga Khan and the de Moussac family; her fourth dam is champion miler and Arc third Luth Enchantee (Be My Guest). Once again, many of the contestants ran very green, and one to note is Nirvana Dschingis (Soldier Hollow), who finished very strongly from an impossible position and looks a certain future winner.

After last week´s French-trained winner at Hoppegarten, there could be an English-trained winner this Sunday at Düsseldorf, where Stormy Antarctic (Stormy Atlantic) runs in the Group Three Kalkmann Frühjahrs-Meile, the first German pattern race of the year. Stormy Antarctic ran twice in Germany last season, beating several of these opponents in the Group Two Badener Meile and then finishing an excellent runner-up to top class Benbatl (Dubawi) in Munich´s Group One Grosser Dallmayr-Preis. A repetition of either of those pieces of form would probably be good enough here, although he has to give weight away all round. Local hope Wonnemond (Areion) in particular could be dangerous in receipt of two kilos; he has won this race for the past two seasons, although he was later disqualified in 2018 after failing a dope test. Zargun (Rock of Gibraltar) could also be a threat at the weights; he is one of three 4yo´s in the field, and looks the type to improve this season. Düsseldorf also stages two races for 3yo maidens, with several more horses with classic entries engaged. The most interesting of them could be Sibelius  (Pastorius) in the 1700 metres maiden: he was runner-up last season in the Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen, and the winner of that race is currently favourite for this year´s German Derby.

David Conolly-Smith

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