The English page - Godolphin's winning run continues

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.

Firebird Song, also bred by Godolphin and out of a Pivotal mare, was trained last year by Charlie Appleby but transferred to Pantall during the winter. She is clearly much improved as she had been well beaten on her previous visit to Germany when she had been unplaced in a similar race at Baden-Baden´s Spring meeting and had finished behind Nyala.  She was the third successive winner of the Hanover race for the Pantall/ Saafi team, and it must be said that the trainer has an outstanding record in German black type races. This year he has saddled 17 runners in Germany and nine of them have won for a strike rate of 52%. Charlie Appleby also has an impressive strike rate of 50% with three winners from six runners. Godolphin are back for more this weekend (see below).

The St. Leger victory of Ispolini (Dubawi) was not quite as clear cut, as the fast-finishing pair of Djukon (Jukebox Jury) and Moonshiner (Adlerflug) were gaining on him with every stride in the final stages. However he had enough in reserve to see them off by a neck and a head.  Ispolini was bred by Newsells Park and bought as a yearling for 1.2 million guineas. He was ridden here by James Doyle, who the previous day had ridden Godolphin´s homebred Old Persian (Dubawi) to victory in the Northern Dancer Stakes at Woodbine, in Canada.  That was a good result from the German point of view, as Old Persian had previously finished a close third in the Grosser Preis von Berlin. A positive mention must be made of Djukon, who only just scraped into the race as the lowest-rated runner, but put up by far his best ever performance, and also the consistent Moonshiner, who has now been placed in the St. Leger for the past three seasons; the 6yo rarely wins but always runs his race, and would in any case prefer softer going, which has been a rarity in Germany this year.

There were also a couple of interesting races for 2yo´s last weekend, the most valuable of which was the BBAG sales race for fillies at Dortmund, in which Sound Machine (Pastorius) made all the running and just held on from two daughters of Areion who had the best form going into the race. This was an excellent result for trainer Mario Hofer, who not only bred the winner but also owns her; and of course he also trained her sire to win the German Derby. Arguably the better race was the fillies´ maiden over the same distance of 1400 metres at Hanover; there were to be true only four runners, but it looked a decent little race and Görlsdorf´s homebred Tickle Me Green won very easily indeed. She is also by a German Derby winner, Sea The Moon, now well established as one of Europe´s leading second  season sires, and also sire of this week´s Norwegian St. Leger winner Privilegiado, who thus completed the Norwegian Triple Crown.

This weekend´s racing in Germany is dominated by the Group One Preis von Europa over 2400 metres at Cologne. The event has seen some very weak renewals in recent years, but this edition looks much stronger and is also wide open. Three U.K. raiders face seven locally-trained hopefuls, who represent just about the best Germany currently has to offer in such races. The field includes four horses who ran three weeks ago in the Grosser Preis von Baden, namely runner-up Donjah (Teofilo), third-placed Laccario (Scalo), Colomano (Cacique), who finished fourth, and Mark Johnston´s Communiqué (Casamento), who was tailed off after a problem at the start. Communiqué can be forgiven that performance, and is best judged on his second place in the Grosser Preis von Berlin, a short head in front of Old Persian and 1 ¾ lengths ahead of Royal Youmzain.

While Johnston is a regular here, Roger Charlton is very seldom seen in Germany and his runners must always be respected. Aspetar (Al Kazeem) was certainly not disgraced when fourth last time in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and had earlier won the Grand Prix de Chantilly. Further improvement is probably required, but also more than likely. The third British challenger is Godolphin´s Best Solution (Kodiac), this time trained by Saeed bin Suroor, who has already won the race three times. That was in the days when Frankie Dettori was stable jockey, but Best Solution has struck up a great relationship with Ulsterman Pat Cosgrave, who won the Grosser Preis von Berlin and Grosser Preis von Baden on him last year and then went to Australia to partner him to success in the Caulfield Cup. If he is back to that form he should win on Sunday, but his only run this year was a rather feeble effort at Kempton a fortnight ago, so there is quite a question mark hanging over him.

The two most likely German candidates are the three-year-olds Donjah and Laccarion, second and third behind impressive Baden-Baden winner Ghaiyyath (Dubawi), now a leading fancy for the Arc. Laccario won the German Derby in good style, but was probably below that form at Iffezheim, while Donjah, who is having only the fifth race of her career, was our top juvenile last season after two very easy victories, but did not come back until the Preis der Diana in early August, where she was sixth after not getting much of a run, followed by this much better performance in the Grosser Preis von Baden. Obviously she can still improve and as her connections won last year´s Preis von Europa she is clearly one of the main candidates.

Bristano (Dansili) won a Group Three at Düsseldorf last time, while the supplemented filly Amorella (Nathaniel) was a Group Two winner at Baden-Baden, but this opposition looks much tougher.  Weltstar (Soldier Hollow) won last year´s German Derby – with Royal Youmzain a close third - but was well beaten on his only start since. With all due respect, it is hard to imagine any of them winning on Sunday. A British victory seems quite possible, but Laccario and Donjah could both prove to be hard nuts to crack.

Main supporting feature is another listed race for fillies and mares, this timer over an extended nine furlongs. Once again there is an international field, with Bubble and Squeak (Mastercraftsman) coming from England and no fewer than four French hopes, the best of whom could be Godolphin´s Wishfully (Invincible Spirit), trained – of course- by Henri-Alex Pantall and to be ridden by Godolphin´s main French jockey, Mickael Barzalona.

David Conolly-Smith