The English page: Racing & Breeding 23

The group races at Baden-Baden last week had, to be honest, little strength in depth, and the late withdrawal of the likely favourite Ito (Adlerflug) from Sunday´s Grosser Preis was a bitter blow, not only to owner/ breeder Gestüt Schlenderhan and trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho (who had taken the same race the previous year with Ivanhowe), but also to the racecourse, who lost one of its main attractions and had in addition to pay back thousands of euros in bets on the non-runner. Ito was originally pencilled in for the Prix de l´Arc de Triomphe, but that now looks highly unlikely, as he is to miss this Sunday´s Prix Foy as well (that was Plan B) and the Preis von Europa at Cologne in a fortnight´s time now looks the probable target.

But the Baden-Baden race, which has a good record as an Arc prep, could still play a significant role in the Longchamp event, as the winner Prince Gibraltar (Rock of Gibraltar) definitely goes for that race, in which he finished seventh last year. Prince Gibraltar´s form this year was not brilliant, but he certainly won in convincing fashion last week, being held up in last place by Fabrice Veron before coming with a withering run on the outside rail in the straight and scoring by one and three-quarter lengths from Nightflower (Dylan Thomas), runner-up in the Preis der Diana, and Sirius (Dashing Blade), with Palace Prince (Areion), runner-up in the German Derby, fourth after appearing not to stay. On a line through Sirius, who was two lengths behind Ito in the Grosser Preis von Berlin last month, one can certainly argue that there would have been little between Ito and Prince Gibraltar at Baden-Baden, but that of course is pure hypothesis.

Prince Gibraltar´s performance gives him a good chance of finishing in the frame in the Arc, especially if the ground comes up soft, but it is hard to see him winning, especially as he has over four lengths to make up on Treve (Motivator), who looks as good as ever this year. Prince Gibraltar is in the Vente de l´Arc on the eve of the big race, so anybody looking for a starter in the big race can acquire him about twenty hours before they are loaded into the starting stalls, but he is unlikely to be cheap. From the German point of view, one certainly hopes he runs well in order to boost the ratings of the Baden-Baden race. 

The other outstanding performance seen at Baden-Baden last week was that of Vadamos (Monsun), who was barely out of a canter when winning the Darley Oettingen-Rennen by five lengths. Rarely has a Group Two race been won with such overwhelming superiority, and trainer André Fabre, who had saddled the four-year-old in person, was not sparing with his compliments. “He is top class,” he said before the race, and repeated this assessment afterwards, “he is a potential champion.” Vadamos ran here after being a late withdrawal from the Prix Jacques le Marois; on his only previous start for Fabre he had won a “course B” at Chantilly over ten furlongs, while he had run mainly over a mile and a half when earlier trained by Francois Rohaut. He did not beat much there, and with all due respect he had little to beat at Baden-Baden – the placed horses Merry Me (Invincible Spirit) and Diplomat (Teofilo) are basically handicappers – but he could not have been more impressive.

When Fabre was asked in a post-race interview what was likely to be Vadamos´ best distance, in view of the fact that he has been entered in top Group One races at eight, ten and twelve furlongs, the trained laughed and replied: “all of them!”  Fabre is known to be the greatest fan of Germany´s late superstallion Monsun, and Vadamos is reminiscent of his earlier champion Manduro, who was equally versatile. “Manduro was a good four-year-old, but even better at five, and I think the same will be true of Vadamos.” Ascot´s Champion Stakes, “a good option” said Fabre, is likely to be the next race for the colt, and on the bare form he has to improve a lot to figure in that race, but Fabre´s enthusiasm will probably prove to be justified.

The form of that race will be tested on Sunday when Diplomat, third at Baden-Baden, runs in Germany´s only group race of this weekend, the Grosse Europa-Meile at Munich. He meets some tough opposition here, and possibly last year´s German 1,000 Guineas winner Ajaxana could be the one to beat at these weights; she can give her sire Rock of Gibraltar the top German event of the week for the second weekend running.