The English page - Start of Baden-Baden´s Grosse Woche

After three successive Sundays with Group One races, last weekend´ s racing in Germany was a much lower level. The main events were two listed races for fillies, one at Düsseldorf over 1400 metres and one at Hanover over 2400 metres. These listed races, especially when restricted to fillies, can usually rely on strong fields with international challengers hoping for some black type, and in fact five of the eight runners in Düsseldorf were trained abroad, three in France, and one each in Sweden and Hungary.

It was thus no huge surprise that a French horse was retuned the winner, Alexander Pereira´s homebred Donna Anna (Dutch Art), who swept past front-runner Nandina (Areion) in the straight to win very easily by 2 ¼ lengths in a good time. The owner, a well-known music impresario was present to see this victory. He and trainer Henri-Alex Pantall are no strangers go German racving and we well remember their top sprinter Amico Fritz, winner of the 2010 Goldene Peitsche. Pantall has a great record in these German listed races for fillies but has been a bit quieter in recent seasons.

The winner had been racing previously in hot handicaps and was up in grade here but last season she had run unplaced in the German 1,000 Guineas. Nandina had run in this year´s renewal, finishing last of 11, and this was her best performance yet. The handicapper was not over-impressed, giving the winner a new rating of GAG 87 ½ (=international 95) while the winner of the Hannover race was given a pound less, so that neither race can be regarded as particularly strong. The latter event went to the longshot Nania (Jukebox Jury), who paid 44-1, and came with a strong run on the wide outside to lead close home and win by a length from the favourite Alpenblume (Kendargent), a half-sister to the recent Yorkshire Oaks winner (and also triple German Group One winner) Alpinista (Frankel).

However by far the most valuable race of the weekend was the BBAG sales race over 1750 metres for 3yo´s at Hanover. On paper this loked a match between the Group Three winner Arina (Soldier Hollow) and Georgios (Poet´s Voice), third in the German 2,000 Guineas, who were easily the highest-rated runners, but it was once again an outsider who triumphed – True Tedesco (Areion), who also challenged on the wide outside and in the end won cozily by half a length from the two favourites. True Tedesco had cost just 15,000 euros at the BBAG Yearling Sale in 2020 and won nearly double that amount here.  A yearling half-brother by Best Solution is lot no. 123 at next week´s BBAG Yearling Sale.

We now turn to the coming weekend, which sees the start to the Grosse Woche at Baden-Baden, always the best meeting of the year in Baden-Baden. There are five days of racing and a total of six group races and meeting continues until the Group One Grosser Preis von Baden on the Sunday of next week. Saturday´s main event is the Group Three 67^th Preis der Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (ex-Spreti-Rennen) over 2000 metres. Only five runners have been declared, a real sign of the times, but they include two 3yo´s who ran well in the German Derby this year and three older horses with solid group race form. Schwarzer Peter (Neatico) was just touched off by a short head at Hamburg, and in fact looked to most people to have won, while Queroyal (Churchill) finished ninth, but beaten less than three lengths. The Hamburg form is working out well and both should be involved kin the finish. Schwarzer Peter is the likely favourite, but it is a very tricky race and any of them could win it. We have a slight fancy for the much improved 5yo Mansour (Tai Chi) who will probably make the running, and those might just be the right tactics in this small field.

The main supporting feature is the nicely named Happy Birthday Mami – 80 Jahre Alexa Gräfin zu Solms Cup, a listed race over 2800 metres. Newmarket trainer Sir Mark Prescott has entered the 4yo filly Alerta Roja (Golden Horn) here and this member of the Alpinista family could well score. Sir Mark has a great record with his German raiders and she is well treated by the conditions. She is a little bit inconsistent and is only having her second race of 2022, but is still the selection. She ran twice in Germany last season, and the form of her second place in last year´s Steher Cup at Hoppegarten reads well.

Sunday´s big race is the Group Three 152^nd Casino Goldene Peitsche (Golden Whip), Germany´s top sprint race. It used to be a Group Two and frequently attracted high class fields, and it still has the huge attraction of offering German racing´s best trophy, literally a golden whip engraved with the names of all 152 winners, but sadly the relatively low prize-money (32,000 euros to the winner) makes it less attractive now to the top European sprinters. There is still an international field of 11 runners, including two from England and one each from Sweden and the Czech Republic. Swedish sprinters often do well in Germany, and Irish Action (Zoffany) must be respected; he was a close third in the listed Hoppegartener Flieger-Preis, with several of these opponents behind him. However Dishina (Soldier Hollow) was only just behind him in fourth and could well reverse the placings. At his best, 6yo Namos (Medicean), who won this in 2020, would have a great chance, but his recent form is less inspiring.

But we are hoping for a British victory here. Hugo Palmer sends his smart Dubawi Legend (Dubawi) but he is drawn in one, which could be a problem if it rains, as is forecast. We just prefer the 3yo filly Tippy Toes (Havana Gold), trained by Mark and Charlie Johnston. She was a recent handicap winner at Chelmsford, which of course is meaningless in the context of a group race, but Johnston senior, who this week saddled his 5,000^th winner, certainly knows the time of day at Iffezheim and she is the selection.

The Grosse Woche at Baden-Baden is not only about racing. Next week we have the BBAG Yearling Sale (see separate preview), easily Germany´s most important bloodstock auction. And on Monday there is the Annual General Meeting of the Besitzervereinigung, the influential German Owners´ and Breeders´ Association, among a host of other events including three “After Race-Parties”. But events on the racecourse are of course the most important, and we are already looking forward to the Sunday of next week, when the Grosser Preis von Baden will be run; Germany´s best two racehorses Torquator Tasso and Sammarco are intended runners, and we hope some top foreign horses come to challenge them as well.

David Conolly-Smith