The English page: Laccario the next German superstar?

After last season s results, when Godolphin took three of Germany´s five all-aged Group One races and other foreign-trained runners took several Group Two events, and the first half of this season, when again most of the better races have gone abroad, it is clear that German racing is in urgent need of another top class Group One performer comparable to Arc winner Danedream, King George winner Novellist or Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist earlier in this decade. It is just possible that we saw one last Sunday in Hamburg, in the shape of Laccario (Scalo), the convincing winner of the IDEE 150^th Deutsches Derby.

Laccario, an Ittlingen homebred, was runner-up on his only start at two, but has shown continual improvement this season, winning all four of his starts. Before the Derby he had run out an equally easy winner of the main trial, Cologne´s Union-Rennen, and on the basis of that form started 2-1 favourite at Hamburg. He is the fifth winner of the race trained by Andreas Wöhler, who has had plenty of experience with top class performers, and was ridden by stable jockey Eduardo Pedroza, winning his first Derby after sixteen previous attempts.

Laccario was always well placed on the inside as two outsiders made the running at a very steady pace and was tracked throughout by Django Freeman (Campanologist), who had been his runner-up in the Union-Rennen and had earlier defeated Quest the Moon (Sea The Moon) and four more Derby runners in the Bavarian Classic at Munich. As the field of fifteen swung into the straight, the two front-runners dropped out, and Surrey Thunder (Le Havre), the sole foreign runner, in the centre of the track, and Quest The Moon, on the outside, took the lead. However it was soon clear that the inside was the place to be; Laccario moved smoothly into the lead just under two furlongs out, hotly pursued by Django Freeman. It was basically a rerun of the Union-Rennen and as hard as Django Freeman tried (which cost his jockey a 28 day suspension for overuse of the whip), Laccario was always going the better and could be called the winner quite a long way from home.

Quest The Moon, who was handicapped by an outside draw and being forced to race wide most of the way, and lost a shoe during the race into the bargain, was possibly slightly unlucky; he looked certain to finish third, but lost that place close home to the fast-finishing Accon (Camelot), one of five runners trained by Markus Klug, who had won three of the preceding five editions of the German Derby. Accon had been fifth in the Bavarian Classic and had since won the Derby trial at Baden-Baden, with Surrey Thunder third and Moonlight Man fifth. As can be seen from these results, the form has worked out extremely well. Traditionally the Derby racecard lists the runners in the order of their official rating; here the first seven to finish were numbered 1,2,4,3,7,6 and 5, i.e. the ratings were spot on.

Compliments then to the handicappers, but this result also puts them in a quandary. Laccario´s winning distance was 1 ¼ lengths, while he had defeated Django Freeman by double that distance in Cologne. In addition there was only five lengths between Laccario and Dschingis First (Soldier Hollow) and Moonlight Man (Reliable Man), both trained by Markus Klug, who finished sixth and seventh, just behind Surrey Thunder. Obviously one would like to see the Derby winner given a high rating, but as senior handicapper Harald Siemen explained, they have to go by the official result and the official distances. They have therefore only put Laccario up two pounds to a new GAG rating of 97.5 (international = 115); this is actually the same rating which was given to the last two winners of the German Derby, but it will be disappointing if Laccario does not prove better than those two in the long run. Django Freeman has been put up three pounds to GAG 96, Accon two pounds and Quest The Moon one pound. Even if they are erring on the side of caution, these are good ratings for the placed horses and this was clearly a good Derby; Laccario is undeniably the king of the crop and it is hoped that he will be able to improve his rating later on. The time of the race was a very decent 2 minutes 29.95 seconds considering the slow early pace, but the ground was riding very fast despite the previous day´s rain.

Laccario´s pedigree has been discussed here before. He is by far the best product so far of Scalo (Lando), also an Ittlingen homebred trained by Wöhler, who was Germany´s champion three-year-old in 2010. As a stallion however his career has been less exciting, and he is now covering mainly N.H. mares at Haras de Gelos near Pau at a fee of 2,200 euros. He has so far only covered small books and there are only about 30 of his offspring in training. Laccario, his only group winner so far, is inbred 3x3 to the Sharpman mare Laurea, dam of the outstanding Lando and also Laroche, both German Derby winners, and also 4x4 to the highly influential Surumu, the 1977 German Derby winner.

Obviously one would like to see Laccario in action against top international performers before coming to any firm conclusions about his ability. This is however unlikely to happen in 2019, as according to his trainer, he is likely to have only two more runs this years, most likely in the Grosser Preis von Baden and Preis von Europa. Clearly he will be aimed at an international campaign as a four-year-old, and Wöhler has an excellent record in this regard, including Novellist and Protectionist, who both put up their best performances at the age of four. Django Freeman will continue his career in Australia, as he is now majority owned by a syndicate from down under, many of whose members were present at Hamburg, including Robert Hickmott, who will train him. The Caulfield Cup is expected to be his first big target, and then the Melbourne Cup. Django Freeman cost only 4,000 euros as a foal at Arqana and has proved a real money-spinner for connections. He has never yet been out of the first two and his earnings now total 236,500 euros.

The Derby is the most valuable race in the German calendar and this shows up clearly in the season´s statistics. Scalo has had just the one winner in Germany so far this year, but is a close second to champion Soldier Hollow, who has had 32 winners, in the stallion statistics. Gestüt Ittlingen is well clear at the top of the owners´ and breeders´ tables, and almost certain to stay there all year. Andreas Wöhler is second to Henk Grewe, Django Freeman´s trainer, in the trainers´ list by number of winners, but clear top by winnings. The Preis der Diana (Oaks) on August 4^th at Düsseldorf is the only other race with enough prize-money to make a dent; some bookies make Wöhler´s   Axana (Soldier Hollow), owned by Team Valor, favourite, but the trainer has made it clear that she will not run; she is expected to run at Glorious Goodwood over seven furlongs instead, as connections do not believe she will stay much beyond a mile. A more interesting candidate for the Diana is Gestüt Ebbesloh´s homebred Durance (Champs Elysees) who won in good style at Hamburg last week. She is not entered at Düsseldorf, as it is an early closing race and she was in training in France at the time, but if all goes well she will probably be supplemented.

David Conolly-Smith