Breeding & Racing in Germany

The season is coming to an end, and last Sunday´s Group Three Grosser Preis von Bamberg – Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen was the last group race of the German season and in the meantime the last European group races have also been run. The Ratibor-Rennen, as it is usually known, is an important late season race for two-year-olds and has often been won by top juveniles who went on to major success the following season, such as subsequent German Derby winner Pastorius (Soldier Hollow) in 2011. Pastorius, now standing as a stallion in France, had a runner in last Sunday´s race, the filly Nona, but she dropped out after leading to halfway.

There was some interesting racing at Hanover last weekend, but from the German point of view the Group One Criterium International  at ParisLongchamp was the event that was most important, as it was won by Gestüt Schlenderhan´s homebred Alson (Areion), the first German-trained Group One winner abroad since the Andreas Wöhler-trained Potemkin (New Approach) won the Premio Roma (since demoted to Group Two) in 2016. In the early years of this decade we had several German horses scoring at the top level – for example Danedream in the Arc and King George, Novellist also in the King George, Pastorius  in the Ganay and Protectionist in the Melbourne Cup – but since then this stream of Group One winners has dried up.  This result was therefore very significant, and of course a great success for Schlenderhan and especially for trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho.

The top race last weekend in Germany was the Group Three Silbernes Pferd (“silver horse”), which is now run over 3000 metres at Hoppegarten.  The lightly-raced 3yo Ladykiller (Kamsin) made all the running and kept pulling out more when challenged, finally scoring by 1 ½ lengths from the 5yo mare Nacida (Wiener Walzer) and French raider Lillian Russell (Dubawi). It was not the best group race ever run, but still a nice performance by the winner, owned by Gestüt Hachtsee, bred by Gestüt Karlshof and sold as a yearling at BBAG´s October Sale for 33,000 euros. Ladykiller was regarded during the winter as one of trainer Andreas Wöhler´s main candidates for the German Derby (which was in the event won by his Laccario (Scalo)) but missed the race following an operation for the removal of a chip.

There were four black type races in Germany last weekend, but with all due respect, they all had relatively weak fields. The most important was the Group Three Grosser Preis der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf over an extended mile There were two foreign runners, but to be honest, neither was up to genuine group class, and so a local winner could be expected. This was, rather surprisingly, the 4yo Kronprinz (Lord of England), owned by Abdulmagid Alyousfi, bred by Gestüt Etzean and trained by Peter Schiergen, who has had, by his standards, a very poor season so far but whose horses are now running much better. Kronprinz was ridden by Schiergen´s new stable jockey Lukas Delozier, who shot him into the lead two furlongs out and from that point on was never in any danger, scoring by four lengths. Kronprinz , a 16,000 euros BBAG yearling, has had rather a mixed career since winning the Dr.

A fortnight after Godolphin and their Newmarket trainer Charlie Appleby had cleaned up at Baden-Baden, the “boys in blue” returned to Germany and took the two main events last Sunday – a listed race for fillies at Hanover and the Group Three German St.Leger at Dortmund. The former event was won by the Irish-bred Firebird Song (Invincible Spirit), who is trained in France by Henri-Alex Pantall and was ridden by Soufiane Saadi. Firebird Song took the lead early in the straight and was never in danger, scoring by two lengths from Brümmerhof´s Best on Stage (Pastorius) and Dr. Berglar´s Nyala (Maxios), who were separated by a neck for second and third place.