The English page - More success for German breeding

The N.H. season is still in full swing, with Cheltenham now less than a fortnight away. This meeting dominates the U.K. and Irish season, although it seems to some observers, including this writer, that the obsession with the N.H. Festival is now rather excessive. The Racing Post now devotes almost all its first five pages to the subject, even though there is plenty going on outside the Festival. However there is no doubt that the 28 races (23 of which were won last year by a runner trained in Ireland) are all extremely competitive and high class events and very often with exciting finishes that make for gripping viewing, not only for the 60,000+ racegoers on the course (back this year after none were allowed in last year) and the millions of TV and internet viewers.

We certainly expect some more winners for sires bred in Germany, or began their stud careers herer, and they continue to rack up the winners in jump racing ion France,Ireland and the U.K. This week alone we have had winners by Network*, Shirocco*, Getaway* (several), Schiaparelli*,  Maxios*(several), Vadamos*(several), Malinas, Gentlewave*, Masked Marvel, Jukebox Jury and Sholokhov; those marked with an asterisk are sons of Monsun, whose huge influence on NH.H. racing remains undimmed ten years after his death. The leading French N.H. track Auteuil, reopened last week after its winter break, and the season is now heading to a climax with Cheltenham followed by the Grand National meeting at Aintree and the Punchestown N.H. Festival as well as Auteuil´s big Easter fixture.

However with spring on tzhe way, the focus is now more and more on flat racing. After Auteuil last week, the Parisian flat racing track of Saint Cloud opens next week, while last Saturday we had the first European group race of the year, the Winter Derby on Lingfield´s all weather track. We hope that this was a good omen for the 2022 season, as the winner was a German-bred, Alenquer (Adlerflug), who was bred by Gestüt Römerhof but actually foaled in France. Alenquer was sold as a foal at Arqana for 18,000 euros and a year later as a yearling at Tattersalls for 80,000 guineas. He is now owned by MM Stables and is trained by William Haggas in Newmarket. His sire Adlerflug (In The Wings) also had a decent winner at Chantilly last week and also has a few runners over jumps. His sudden death last Easter was a massive blow to the German bloodstock world.

Alenquer is expected to go next for the Sheema Classic, one of the top races on Dubai World Cup Day at Meydan in three weeks´ time. He is out of a mare by Areion from a family that has done well in Germany in recent years, but we are not convinced that he will stay the Sheema Classic distance of 2400 metres. His new rating of 119 is certainly good enough. This Saturday we have several trials for the big meeting in Meydan, the so-called Super Saturday. There is a very strong card with 9 races, including two Group Ones, both over nine furlongs: the Jebel Hatta on turf and the Al Maktoum Challenge Round Three on dirt. In both races the 2021 winner will be back to try and repeat their victories from last year. Both are CD  specialists and we hope they both win, the latter Salute The Soldier (Sepoy) because he will be ridden by our old friend Adrie de Vries and the former Lord Glitters (Whipper) because the 9yo grey gelding is one of our favourite horses. He is usually held up in last place and then comes with a devastating run in the final furlong to outspeed the whole field. When it comes off, as it did last time, and also last year, and also in Royal Ascot´s Queen Anne Stakes in 2019, it looks fantastic. He needs to come off a strong pace, but that is almost certain to be the case.

Another recent winner to come with a strong run from last place to win cozily is the 4yo Emblem Road (Quality Road), who won last Saturday´s Saudi Cup, the world´s most valuable race with 20 million $ in prize-money. His victory as a huge surprise with an industry SP of 80-1. His victory was extremely popular as he is trained locally and ridden by the Saudi-based Panamanian jockey Wigberto Ramos. After watching the race again, one has to say that ”Wiggy” gave the horse a great ride and despite the long odds Emblem Star was the best horse on the day, thanks in part to the furious pace. Emblem Road was bred by Brushy Hill and sold as a yearling at Kentucky $ 230,000, although he only fetched a quarter of that amount when sold a year later at a 2yo´s in training sale at Ocala. He has a good pedigree – hence the original high price - and his second dam Ventura (Chester House) was a multiple Group One winner in North America  for Juddmonte and Bobby Frankel. His pedigree is almost entirely American with virtually no European elements.

The rest of the Riyadh meeting was dominated by the Japanese, who won four races – all million $ affairs- on the undercard. They had four different trainers, but they all had the same jockey aboard, French-born Christophe Lemaire. The 42-year-old has been in Japan for 20 years, originally on short term contracts, but more recently full time and has been champion jockey on the JRA tracks for the past five seasons, with some 200 winners every year. When one considers the prize-money on JRA tracks, this almost certainly makes Lemaire the richest jockey in the world.

Japan is now a major power in the world of horse racing, and this is the result of their policy of buying the best European fillies and mares, including several German classic winners. A recent example is Decoration (Lord Kanaloa), who this week won a 3yo mile maiden at Nakayama. He is out of the Gestüt Röttgen-bred mare Dalicia (Acatenango), who we remember winning a group race at Baden-Baden in 2005. She was then sold at the BBAG October Sale to Carlton Consultants, but  then four years later at Tattersalls to the Yoshida family for 230,000 guineas. This may have seemed a high price at the time, but in retrospect it was a bargain, as Dalicia´s first foal, who at the time had not yet run, was Animal Kingdom (Lerodesanimaux), who went on to win the Kentucky Derby and the Dubai World Cup. The Röttgen “D” family is still going strong; it has Hungarian roots but has produced winners all over the world .

The next two weeks we shall be looking in more detail at the Cheltenham N.H. Festival, but from then on flat racing will take over almost completely, and the first 2022 group race in Germany is now just over a month away.

David Conolly-Smith