The English page - Spectaculary victory for Ancient Spirit

There was plenty of racing in Germany over the long Whit weekend, with some convincing victories and some big surprises. As it happens, the most convincing winner also caused the greatest surprise; that was Stall Ullmann´s Ancient Spirit (Invincible Spirit) who made almost all the running to win the Group Two Mehl-Mülhens-Rennen (German 2,000 Guineas) in spectacular style. He was the outsider of the field at just over 21-1, and he was by some margin the lowest-rated runner, but there was certainly no fluke about his success. He was wearing blinkers for the first time, which was possibly a factor. At any rate, he started slowly and was last after 100 yards; after another 100 yards he was in front and tearing away. Often enough, horses that run like that fade away again as quickly as they came, but not Ancient Spirit, who kept on strongly to the line and could be called the easy winner a long way from home. In the end he scored by four and a half lengths from Fajjaj (Dawn Approach) and Fighting Irish (Camelot), two of the three British-trained challengers, - the third, Godolphin´ s Zaman (Dutch Art), who started favourite, ran very disappointingly, finishing eighth of the ten runners. “He stumbled at the start,” reported William Buick, “but basically, he was never going.”

This was clearly a much-improved performance from Ancient Spirit on his fourth start and the handicapper has reacted by putting him up by no less than 35 pounds to a new rating of 115, by far the highest for a German three-year-old so far this season. He was the fifth winner of this race in the last 21 years for the Ullmann/ Schlenderhan stable, but a first for both trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho and jockey Filip Minarik. He comes from a top Schlenderhan family; his dam Assisi is by Galileo out of German Oaks winner Amarette (Monsun), who is closely related to Melbourne Cup winner Almandin (Monsun). However these influences for stamina are clearly outweighed by the obvious influence of his sire Invincible Spirit, whose offspring rarely get beyond a mile, and this distance seems likely to his optimum. He probably runs next in the Prix Jean Prat over this trip.

Of the others, connections of Fajjaj, a big horse who probably needs more time, and Fighting Irish, who is possibly better over seven furlongs and could be an interesting candidate for the Jersey Stakes, were both happy, while one to take out of the race is Gestüt Röttgen´s homebred Weltstar (Soldier Hollow), who did not get much of a run but finished very well to go fourth over a distance which was clearly too short. He is a half-brother to last year´s German Derby winner Windstoss (Shirocco) and is certainly no forlorn hope to emulate him.

The other Group Two race of the weekend was the Oleander-Rennen over two miles at Hoppegarten. There was no big surprise here, with the three favourites taking the first three places, but it was still a controversial race, with the English-trained Nearly Caught (New Approach) disqualified after passing the post half a length in front of Sound Check (Lando), with Parviz (Lope de Vega) a length back in third. Nearly Caught had taken the lead in the centre of the course a furlong and a half out, but then drifted right to the rails, where Andrasch Starke was about to launch his challenge on Sound Check, who is best when coming with a late run. Sound Check had to be switched, which Starke claimed cost him the race, and the stewards agreed.

It was a borderline decision and a case could be made for both Nearly Caught´s keeping the race and for his being disqualified. The winner is automatically now invited to run in the valuable Belmont Gold Cup on June 8^th, but while neither Nearly Caught nor Sound Check are taking up this option, Parviz is reportedly going to run. The first three are also invited to run in the Irish St. Leger, which is still a long way off; however Sound Check is a possible runner in the Group Two Curragh Cup on Irish Derby weekend, which, like the Hoppegarten race and the St. Leger, is also sponsored by the Comer Group.

Filip Minarik was in great form over the weekend and rode two more black type winners. On Saturday he partnered Well Timed, also owned by the Ullmann stable and trained by Carvalho, to a narrow success in a listed race for three-year-old fillies at Düsseldorf; the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor is now to be aimed at the Preis der Diana (German Oaks). And on Cologne´s undercard he made all the running on Gestüt Park Wiedingen´s Devastar (Areion) to win a listed race over eleven furlongs, giving weight to some useful performers. Langtang (Campanologist) ran well here after a long layoff to finish second and should now be followed.

Big race this weekend is the WEMPE 98^th German 1,000 Guineas at Düsseldorf. Eleven fillies are expected to line up and there could well be a third successive victory for a British raider with Mark Johnston´s Nyaleti (Arch) likely to start favourite. She has been very busy with eleven starts under her belt, but is very consistent and has good group and listed form to her credit. Malakeh (Harbour Watch) won the main trial, but Peter Schiergen´s two runners Angelita and Binti al Nar, both by Areion, also both look dangerous, as do Andreas Wöhler´s pair Go Rose (Soldier Hollow) and Queen´s Harbour (Harbour Watch). The Ullmann/ Carvalho/Minarik team are represented by Indah (Dabirsim), who, like her stable companion on Monday, has the lowest rating in the field, but that did not stop him and it is by no means impossible that she can bring off the double.

David Conolly-Smith