The English page - Triumph and tragedy

Triumph and tragedy are never far apart, in racing as in many other walks of life, and we saw this again at Cologne last Sunday when Sea Bay (New Bay) won the Preis des WInterfavoriten in brilliant style, scoring by nine lengths after taking the lead early in the straight and leaving strong opposition for dead. This was a most impressive performance, the best by a German-trained 2yo for many years and earned him as GAG rating of 96 (=international 112), extremely high for a German juvenile and equaling the highest rating for this age group.

Sea Bay was bred by Gestüt Etzean and was a 155,000 euros BBAG yearling last year. He is the third foal out of Strawberry (whose sire Lord of England sadly died a few das ago), who was regarded as very promising after winning at two but whose career was then cut short by injury. Strawberry was a three parts sister to the Group One winner Sirius (Dashing Blade); her first foal died young, but her second Samoa (Jukebox Jury) recently won the Silbernes Band der Ruhr, Germany´s longest flat race, so stamina seems to be no problem here. However there is still a major problem: jockey Adrie de Vries dismounted on the way to the unsaddling enclosure, feeling that something was wrong. He was right and it later transpired that Sea Bay had suffered a hairline fracture to his left fore. He was operated on the next day and had four screws inserted into the bone. The operation went well and he seems to be making a complete recovery. Obviously he now has the whole winter to recuperate, and there are plenty of examples of horses that have had similar injuries and come back later to top form. However there is always a risk involved in such matters and we most hope that we see him in action again in 2022; in theory he would now be clear favourite for next year´s German Derby (as the name of the race implies); German bookmakers currently have him as one of several possible candidates for that race quoted between 20-1 and 25-1.

There is now a new favourite for the 2022 German Derby, and he also ran at Cologne on Sunday. This is Tünnes (Giuliani), bred by Paul Vandeberg, who made all to win a modest maiden over 1850 metres by three lengths. He looked good, but not nearly as good as Sea Bay two hours later, and the form of course does not bear comparison. However he is of major interest as a half-brother to none other than Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Adlerflug). He was also sold at the BBAG yearling sale, this time for 38,000 euros to Cologne owner Holger Renz, who admitted later that he had bought the colt by accident, but was still more than happy to keep him. This is an excellent family as his fourth dam is the celebrated blue hen Allegretta (Lombard), dam among others of Arc winner Urban Sea , herself dam of superstars Galileo and Sea The Stars.

Two-year-olds will also be at the centre of attention at this weekend´s big meeting, the Sales & Racing Festival at Baden-Baden. There is racing. There are seven races on Friday, followed by the first part of the mixed sale, which starts at 5 p.m. and includes mainly yearlings, but also foals, horses in training and broodmares. This was the sale at which Torquator Tasso was sold for 24,000 euros as a yearling, so his Arc victory less than a fortnight ago was the best possible p.r. The sale continues on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. and will probably last all day. Racing resumes on Sunday with an early 11.20 start and ten races.

The two big races at the meeting are both for 2yo´s, the Ferdinand-Leisten-Memorial on Friday over 1400 metres and the Group Three Preis der Winterkönigin for fillies over a mile on Sunday, The former event, a BBAG sales race, is in faczt the most valuable juvenile rac of the year in Germany with 200,000 euros in prize-money. This writer is slightly uneasy about these valuable sales races, of which there are also several  in the U.K., Ireland and France, sponsored by the leading sales companies Tattersalls, Goffs and Arqana. They are in many cases, as here, worth more than group races, which can have a distorting effect on the season´s statistics. The top group race winners are usually the better racehorses, but the sales race winners earn more money, which is not always logical, The sales companies of course like to pretend that they are putting up all the money themselves, but in fact the money comes from the vendors at the sales who have to pay extra to have their yearlings go through the ring. This is especially the case in Germany, where the BBAG has kept the prize-money for these events at the traditional very high level,  while the purses for most group races have had to be reduced as a result of the pandemic.

At any rate, the Baden-Baden race has attracted a good entry with 13 2yo´s entered and it looks wide open with no obvious stand out contender. Leading trainers Henk Grewe, Markus Klug and Peter Schiergen, who have dominated the juvenile scene so far, each have two runners, And it is more than likely that the winner will come from this group. Klug´s Sea Hector (Counterattack) finished third in the Preis des Winterfavoriten only last Sunday and has an obvious chance if he turns out again, while Grewe´s Mister Applebee (Areion) was a very easy winner of a similar sales race at Dortmund, with four of these opponents well behind.

In terms of quality, the Preis der Winterkönigin (now known simply as “Die Winterkönigin”) the fillies´ equivalent to the Preis des Winterfavoriten, is probably a much better race. The same three trainers seem to hold the strongest hands again . Grewe saddles Atomic Blonde (The Grey Gatsby), winner of a sales race at Dortmund last week, as well as Lacuna (Shalaa), who has won once and been placed three times in four starts, including a good third in Chantilly to the top French filly Raclette, while Schiergen has Barina (Gleneagles) from the top family of Borgia, as well as Lizair (Zarak), while Klug has entered Enjoy the Dream  (Mastercraftsman) from another top family. We also like the look of Gestüt Wittekindshof´s Rosenart (Arerion). Any of these could win and it should be an exciting race, but one to watch rather than to bet on.

The other group race on Sunday at Baden-Baden is the Baden-Württemberg Trophy, for 3yo´s and up over 2000 metres. Surprisingly Wismar, a 3yo filly by Soldier Hollow, is the only runner from that age group and she looks the outsider of trainer Schiergen´s three entries; her stable companion Deia, another Gestüt Park Wiedingen-bred daughter of Soldier Hollow, could be preferred, but this again looks a tricky race, especially as the forecast favourite, the French-trained Monty (Motivator) is apparently not certain to run. Our advice to punters therefore, as in the two juvenile races, is “hold your horses!”

David Conolly-Smith