The English page - More winners for German-bred sires

The victory march of German-bred sires in N.H. races continues, and in the past week we have seen winners in the U.K. by Malinas, Shirocco*, Masterrcraftsman*, Schiaparelli*, Waldpark, Sholokhov, Getaway* and Noroit*, in Ireland by Masked Marvel, Saddex and Ocovango*, and in France by Bathyrhon*. Those marked with an asterisk are all by Monsun, whose impact on N.H. racing remains huge. At the same time the filly La Crique (Vadamos*) was a Group Two winner on the flat in New Zealand. This list is probably not even complete, as more results keep coming in. Particularly successful recently have been the offspring of Fame and Glory (Montjeu), whose second dam is the German 1,000 Guineas winner Grimpola (Windwurf), and Shirocco, who have both had several winners this week.

We would especially mention Fortescue (Shirocco), winner of the valuable Swinley Chase at Ascot last Saturday, and Teahupoo (Masked Marvel), winner of the Grade Three Red Mills Trial Hurdle at Gowran Park  and now a leading fancy for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. Masked Marvel, despite his name, is a son of Montjeu out of Waldmark (Mark of Esteem), and hence a member of the celebrated Ravensburg “W”familyand closely related to German Derby winner Waldpark (also a recent winning sire) and Arc winner Waldgeist, who has had no runners yet, but of whom great things are expected. Masked Marvel won the Doncaster St. Leger in 2011 for trainer John Gosden and then owner Björn Nielsen; he now stands in France at the Haras de la Tuilerie, originally at a fee of 3,000 euros but this has been raised almost every year and is now 7,000 euros. His first crop runners are still only six, babies in N.H. terms, so he has plenty of time to do even better. He has no Monsun in his pedigree, but it is well known that Monsuns really click with the “W” family.

The same Gowran Park card also had two more winners of great interest. The main event, the Red Mills Chase, was won by Melon (Medicean), likely to run next  at Cheltenham, possibly in the Ryanair Chase. He is out of the German mare Night Teeny (Platini), and thus closely related to numerous Group One winners for Gestüt Wittekindshof as well as the Imm family´s Stall Nizza. Earlier the same afternoon at Gowran Park we saw Blue Sari (Saddex) run out a very easy winner of  the beginners chase. Blue Sari was runner-up in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in 2019, and although his career has had some ups and downs since then, he is still regarded as a major hope for leading owner JP McManus. Saddex (Sadler´s Wells) was bred by the Niarchos family, but was trained in Germany by Peter Rau for Stall Avena, and after starting his stud career at Gestüt Westerberg, now stands at the Blackrath Stud in Co. Kildare; he is now making quite a name for himself as a N.H. sire.

Another important Irish meeting this week was staged at Punchestown  and the Grade Three mares hurdle trace was won by hot favourite Burning Victory (Nathaniel); this is normally a good race and she is now one of the favourites for the Mares Hurdle at Cheltenham. Two daughters of Shirocco finished second and third here and will certainly win decent races in future. Another recent horse to be placed is the Schlenderhan-bred Adagio (Wiener Walzer) who was just run out of it close home in the prestigious Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton last Saturday. Adagio was runner-up in the Triumph Hurdle last year and is now expected to take on Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle itself.-We do not really expect him to win that event – in fact we are hoping like every other N.H. fan that Honeysuckle (out of a German mare!) can keep up her fantastic winning sequence – but Adagio is clearly still one of the best hurdlers around.

A stallion son of Monsun who is also now beginning to make a name for himself is Bathyrhon, whose son Iban Roque made all the running to win a hurdle race for 4yo´s at Angers this  week. Bathyrhon was bred in Germany by Dieter Meinke, but has been flying under radar slightly as he was trained in France by Pia Brandt, for whom he win the Prix Vicomtesse Vigier (Group Two) and was runner-ip in the Group One Prix du Cadran. Bathyrhon has already sired the winner of a Grade One hurdle race in Italy, but most of his runners race in France, and he stands at the Haras de la Hetraie; his fee was put up this year to 3,800 euros, but he could well be a bargain at that price as his offspring have been selling very well; two daughters of his fetched six figure sums at Arqana this month. As his first crop runners are now 6yo´s, the future for him looks rosy and more big race winners over jumps look certain

However the most successful of all Monsun´s sons at stud remains Shirocco. It should not be forgotten that Shirocco was without any doubt one of the best German racehorses of this century so far. He won Group One races in four countries, in Germany the Derby, in the USA the Breeders Cup Turf, in the U.K. the Coronation Cup as well as in Italy. Owned and bred by Baron Ullmann, he was originally trained by Andreas Schütz, but was transferred to André Fabre before his 4yo career. He was from an excellent family and is an own brother to several smart performers, including  Subiaco and Storm Trooper, both placed in the Group One Deutsches Derby and also September Storm, who unluckily fell in that race but is now also doing well as a N.H. sire. After his racing career was over Shirocco was sold to Darley as a stallion and stood for seven years at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket.

The best horses he sired while there were Windstoss, another winner of the German Derby and now embarking himself on a stallion career at Röttgen, Irish St. Leger winner Brown Panther and above all the outstanding hurdler Annie Power (out of a mare from the Röttgen Anna Paola family) who won five Grade One hurdle races including the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. After Dalham Hall, Shirocco moved on to Ireland and he stands now at the Cashman family´s Glenview Stud in Co. Cork alongside another German-bred N.H. sire Malinas (Lomitas), who finished runner-up to him in the 2004 German Derby. The going was very soft that day and Shirocco clearly relished such underfoot conditions, a characteristic he has passed on to many of his progeny; he now stands for a fee given as “private” –most unusual for a N.H. sire.

Although there are some big flat races now coming up, notably the extremely valuable Saudi Cup meeting, we shall continue to keep a close eye on the British and Irish N.H. scene, with Cheltenham now less than three weeks away and the near certainty of more big race success for German-bred sires.

David Conolly-Smith