The English page - Heavy going at Baden-Baden

After a rainy week, the ground at Baden-Baden´s October meeting was heavy and as a result there some wide margin winners. The very first race of the meeting, a mile maiden for two-year-olds, was won in astonishing style by the filly Emoji (Soldier Hollow), who went clear in the straight to win almost in a canter by 14 lengths. This was her belated debut, but she was preceded by a tall reputation and started at odds-on. Trainer Henk Grewe, whose juveniles continue to fire on all fronts, clearly holds her in high regard and she must be one of his best prospects for next season. Bred by Bernd Dietel and Thomas Jordan, she is from an excellent family that has produced numerous good winners for Fährhof and other German breeders. Soldier Hollow products usually improve with age and he currently leads the German stallion statistics by a narrow margin from Areion.

The main 2yo race on the Saturday was the Ferdinand Leisten-Memorial, a BBAG sales race over seven furlongs, which with its 200,000 euros prize-money is the most valuable juvenile race of the German season. The easy winner here was Gestüt Karlshof´s homebred filly No Limit Credit, by leading first season sire Night of Thunder, who had already shown good form in the BBAG series of sales races. Jockey Clement Lecoeuvre took her over to the stands rail early in the straight and she quickly went clear to score by 6 ½ lengths. She was led out unsold at 32,000 euros at last year´s BBAG Yearling Sale, in retrospect a positive result for Karlshof, as she has since won nearly five times that amount in prize-money. There is nothing German about her pedigree, as she is out of the Irish-bred Nasrine (Barathea) and is descended from a good French family; her third dam Nasaraya (Dancing Brave) was a half-sister to French Derby winner and sire Natroun. Trainer Andreas Suborics was worried that the trip might be too sharp for her, and she should definitely stay middle distances next year; she could have one more run this season, in the Group Three Ratibor-Rennen in mid-November. Holger Faust, whose parents own Karlshof, said in a newspaper interview: “She has won us a lot of money, now we really would like to have some black type as well.”

The value of the form of these sales races is difficult to assess, but several of the runners are also likely to run in a similar, but less valuable, race next week in Munich so we shall know more then. No Limit Credit is obviously smart, but officially at least the top German 2yo filly is Ocean Fantasy, by another leading first season sire in Make Believe, who took the Group Three Preis der Winterkönigin the following day in the most exciting finish of the meeting. She was almost last of the eleven runners round the final bend, but came with a strong late run to tackle Görlsdorf´s homebred Tickle Me Pink (Sea The Moon) at the distance and the pair fought it out, well clear, all the way to the line, with Ocean Fantasy getting the verdict by a short head. The winner is French-bred and was a 30,000 euros Arqana foal purchase for Gestüt Höny-Hof. She is out of a Dansili mare and should also stay middle distances. Like Emoji and No Limit Credit she is also entered in next year´s Preis der Diana. The handicapper has put Ocean Fantasy up to GAG 92.5 (= international 105), while No Limit Credit is only on 85.5, i.e. theoretically a stone inferior.

The only significant race for older horses at Baden-Baden was the Group Three Baden-Württemberg Trophy over ten furlongs. It looked a weak race on paper beforehand, and so it proved. The 4yo gelding Nancho (Tai Chi), trained in Hungary by Gabor Maronka, ran clear away from his five German opponents to win by 7 ½ lengths. This was visually most impressive, but, with all due respect, the locals either underperformed or were simply not up to group race standard. Nancho, a 9,000 BBAG yearling purchase, is certainly the best horse currently trained in Hungary – he had won eight of his previous nine starts- but has some way to go before he can emulate the exploits of Overdose, the Budapest Bullet, the last Hungarian-trained group race winner here. The handicapper has given him a generous rating of GAG 95 (=110), and Maronka has declared that he will be campaigned exclusively in Western European pattern races next year, but he will then find life much tougher. He is the second group race winner by Tai Chi (High Chaparral), a promising young stallion who stands at Ohlerweiherhof at a very reasonable 4,500 euros. Tai Chi was Germany´s top 2yo of 2011, winning both the Winterfavorit and Ferdinand Leisten, and was until last week the winningmost juvenile in German racing history.

He has now been overtaken by Rubaiyat (Areion), himself the winner of the Preis des Winterfavoriten, but who left out the Baden-Baden race in favour of Sunday´s Group Two Gran Criterium in Milan, which he proceeded to win easily at odds-on by five lengths. This was part of a great weekend for trainer Henk Grewe, jockey Clement Lecoeuvre, breeder Gestüt Karlshof, and especially for Holger Faust, who not only acts as racing manager for his parents but is also racing manager for Darius Racing (the nom de course of Merck CEO Dr. Stefan Oschmann and his wife Shahpar). The Oschmanns, Grewe, Faust and Lecoeuvre travelled to Milan on Sunday and were rewarded by victory in both the top races – the 3yo filly Donjah (Teofilo), also bred by Karlshof, taking the Gran Premio del Jockey Club by 4 ½ lengths less than an hour later. The Italian races are worth more than their German equivalents, though the owners will probably to wait longer for the prize money to arrive; they also appear easier to win, and this was a great piece of race planning. It was also a good result for the BBAG, as both these winners were BBAG Yearling Sale graduates, Rubaiyat having cost a bargain 26,000 euros, and Donjah costing more at 100,000 euros a year earlier.  Donjah has now gone up to a rating of GAG 96 (=112), and is expected to run in next week´s Munich Group One, while Rubaiyat´s rating is now 95 (110).

The season is gradually drawing to a close, but there are three black type races at Hanover this Sunday, which should give us more evidence about this year´s German form, while of equal interest is the Group One Criterium International at Longchamp over seven furlongs, in which Gestüt Schlenderhan´s Alson (Areion) is engaged. It looks like a very small field and a good placing will see Alson overtake Rubaiyat as German´s biggest earning two-year-old. Both he and Rubaiyat are by Areion, whose progeny rarely stay a mile and a half, so the German 2,000 Guineas looks the likeliest target next year for them both.

David Conolly-Smith