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The English page: Change in perception

Weltstar, Adrie de Vries on board. www.galoppfoto.de - Sandra Scherning

Autor: 

David Conolly-Smith

TurfTimes: 

Ausgabe 523 vom Freitag, 22.06.2018

Perceptions can change quickly, in racing as in life, and the idea that this year´s Deutsches Derby was a foregone conclusion after the victories of the Andreas Wöhler-trained Royal Youmzain (Youmzain) in the Bavarian Classic at Munich and more especially the Ittlingen Derby-trial at Baden-Baden, must now reconsidered after last Sunday´s Group Two Union-Rennen at Cologne. Traditionally the Union-Rennen, the oldest race in the German calendar, has always been regarded as the most reliable Derby trial, but that has seldom been the case in recent years. Only Wiener Walzer in 2009 and Sea The Moon in 2014 have done the double in the past fifteen years.

Markus Klug was the trainer of Sea The Moon (Sea The Stars), arguably the best winner of the Derby this century, and he also sent out Gestüt Röttgen´s homebred Windstoss (Shirocco) to win last year. On Sunday, Klug saddled four runners in the Union-Rennen; stable jockey Adrie de Vries was on Windstoss´ half-brother Weltstar (Soldier Hollow), who went into many notebooks after staying on nicely into fourth place in the Mehl-Mülhens-Rennen (2,000 Guineas), while last year´s Derby-winning rider Maxim Pecheur was on Valajani (Jukebox Jury), Martin Seidl partnered Destino, another son of Soldier Hollow and Sibylle Vogt was on another Jukebox Jury, Klüngel.

Klug cannot have been very happy for the first two thirds of the race, as in the usual scrimmaging at the first turn Weltstar, Destino and Valajani all succeeded in hampering each other, and the four Klug runners were the last four as the field of thirteen swung into the straight. However the picture changed dramatically in the final two furlongs of the race as the early leaders weakened and three of them came strongly into the race.

Destino and Weltstar were brought to the side outside, and Destino quickened into the lead just over a furlong out, with his stable companion in hot pursuit and the race was from then on between this pair. Weltstar could soon be seen to be travelling the better and he mastered his paternal half-brother over 100 yards out to score by three quarters of a length. Salve del Rio (Rio De La Plata) kept on for third in the centre of the track, with Jimmu (Dalakhani), always prominent, keeping on at one pace in fourth and Valajani running a solid race in fifth. Ecco (Maxios), a half-brother to last year´s Derby runner-up Enjoy Vijay (Nathaniel) was sixth, and it is quite likely that all six will reoppose Weltstar at Hamburg in a just over a fortnight´s time, although that one won in the end so convincingly that it is hard to see any reason why the form should not stand up. It is even harder to see much chance in the Derby for those who finished further back, although possibly Emerald Master (Mastercraftsman), who again ran much too freely, could be considered if his jockey is able to keep him covered up.

However basically the Deutsches Derby now looks a two-horse race. There are of course form lines between Royal Youmzain and Weltstar, but they are hardly conclusive. Jimmu, for example, finished much close to Royal Youmzain at Munich than he did to Weltstar last week. The handicapper now has Royal Youmzain on a German rating of 96.5 (international 113) and Weltstar on 96 (112) with Destino on 95 (110) and the rest of the 18 still left in for the Derby rated on their Munich, Baden-Baden and Cologne form behind the two market leaders.

Both of them of course have the right pedigree for the job and are certain to appreciate the twelve furlongs distance at Hamburg. They both trace back to famous racemares – Royal Youmzain, a Jaber Abdullah homebred, is a direct descendant of the famous Schlenderhan mare Schwarzgold, herself winner of the German Derby in 1940, while Weltstar traces back to an even more illustrious ancestress, the unbeaten Hungarian mare Kincsem. Weltstar´s dam Wellenspiel (Sternkönig) only won two modest handicaps, but her first two foals are stars, and she has now has a two-year-old colt by Reliable Man, a yearling colt by Kamsin and this year foaled a filly by Protectionist. Both Windstoss and Weltstar could in fact have been bought relatively cheaply as yearlings, but there was little interest and Röttgen kept them, with very happy results.

With the big Hamburg Derby meeting starting next week, there is little significant racing this weekend in Germany; easily the best race is the 31st edition of the Group Three Grosser Preis der Wirtschaft over 1750 metres at Dortmund, which sees several of our best performers at this intermediate distance, including Wild Chief (Doyen) and Cashman (Soldier of Fortune), the first two from last year. They are opposed among others by the seven-year-old Potemkin (New Approach), who has an outstanding chance on his form in 2016, when he won the Premio Roma and Prix Dollar, by the supplemented Navaro Girl (Holy Roman Emperor) and by Palace Prince (Areion), recently third in the Badener Meile and actually top-rated here. But the interesting one could be Theo (Manduro), the only three-year-old in the field; last time out he was a distant second to Royal Youmzain at Baden-Baden and a good performance here would obviously be a positive pointer to that one´s chances in the Derby.

David Conolly-Smith

 

 

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