Breeding & Racing in Germany
In order to be of assistance to our growing number of readers from abroad, we are with immediate effect publishing in every issue of Turf Times an English page, giving in compact form all the latest racing and breeding news from Germany in English.
When we introduced “The English page” in Turf Times a few years ago, there was no question about the author. Our English readers could not be better informed about what was happening here than by David Conolly-Smith. Born in Nottingham, the Englishman, correspondent for various British and Irish specialist newspapers, German representative of the International Racing Bureau, contact point for all active people from the island, lived in Munich and horse racing was his passion. He passed away on July 9, 2023 at the age of 83. It was his wish that Shannon Patricia Spratter should continue the English-language column in his place. He was friends with her father, the Irish-born trainer John David hillis, wo is working in Munich, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Our columnist briefly introduces herself here.
Writes the column for the English-speaking Turf Times readers: Shannon Spratter with her father, former jockey and current gallop trainer, John David Hillis. Foto: privat
My name is Shannon Patricia Spratter and I was born into racing through my father, former jockey and now trainer, John David Hillis and mother, Jeanette Spratter.
Due to the recommendation of David Conolly-Smith, I have taken over his part with great enthusiasm and now write the English edition about our German racing.
When I'm not in front of the computer writing texts or pursuing my main job, I spend my time at my father's racing stable. My favourite hobby is riding races as an amateur.
There was some interesting racing at Hanover last weekend, but from the German point of view the Group One Criterium International at ParisLongchamp was the event that was most important, as it was won by Gestüt Schlenderhan´s homebred Alson (Areion), the first German-trained Group One winner abroad since the Andreas Wöhler-trained Potemkin (New Approach) won the Premio Roma (since demoted to Group Two) in 2016. In the early years of this decade we had several German horses scoring at the top level – for example Danedream in the Arc and King George, Novellist also in the King George, Pastorius in the Ganay and Protectionist in the Melbourne Cup – but since then this stream of Group One winners has dried up. This result was therefore very significant, and of course a great success for Schlenderhan and especially for trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho.
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After a rainy week, the ground at Baden-Baden´s October meeting was heavy and as a result there some wide margin winners. The very first race of the meeting, a mile maiden for two-year-olds, was won in astonishing style by the filly Emoji (Soldier Hollow), who went clear in the straight to win almost in a canter by 14 lengths. This was her belated debut, but she was preceded by a tall reputation and started at odds-on. Trainer Henk Grewe, whose juveniles continue to fire on all fronts, clearly holds her in high regard and she must be one of his best prospects for next season.
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The top race last weekend in Germany was the Group Three Silbernes Pferd (“silver horse”), which is now run over 3000 metres at Hoppegarten. The lightly-raced 3yo Ladykiller (Kamsin) made all the running and kept pulling out more when challenged, finally scoring by 1 ½ lengths from the 5yo mare Nacida (Wiener Walzer) and French raider Lillian Russell (Dubawi). It was not the best group race ever run, but still a nice performance by the winner, owned by Gestüt Hachtsee, bred by Gestüt Karlshof and sold as a yearling at BBAG´s October Sale for 33,000 euros. Ladykiller was regarded during the winter as one of trainer Andreas Wöhler´s main candidates for the German Derby (which was in the event won by his Laccario (Scalo)) but missed the race following an operation for the removal of a chip.
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It has not been a great year so far for German racing. A great number of our top races have been won by horses trained abroad, usually England or France. The four top late summer Group Ones were won by Danceteria (Redoute's Choice) at Munich, French King (French Fifteen) in Berlin, Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) at Baden-Baden and Aspetar (Al Kazeem) in Cologne.
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There were four black type races in Germany last weekend, but with all due respect, they all had relatively weak fields. The most important was the Group Three Grosser Preis der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf over an extended mile There were two foreign runners, but to be honest, neither was up to genuine group class, and so a local winner could be expected. This was, rather surprisingly, the 4yo Kronprinz (Lord of England), owned by Abdulmagid Alyousfi, bred by Gestüt Etzean and trained by Peter Schiergen, who has had, by his standards, a very poor season so far but whose horses are now running much better. Kronprinz was ridden by Schiergen´s new stable jockey Lukas Delozier, who shot him into the lead two furlongs out and from that point on was never in any danger, scoring by four lengths. Kronprinz , a 16,000 euros BBAG yearling, has had rather a mixed career since winning the Dr.
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There were high hopes for last Sunday´s Group One Preis von Europa at Cologne, which promised to be one of the defining races of the German season. Unfortunately it did not work out that way, and the fireworks we were hoping for did not materialize; the event was a bit of a damp squib. It started with the sudden and unexpected decision of Manfred Ostermann to withdraw his Deutsches Derby winner Laccario because of his misgivings about the ground, especially as another horse owned by him had pulled up lame in an earlier race.
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A fortnight after Godolphin and their Newmarket trainer Charlie Appleby had cleaned up at Baden-Baden, the “boys in blue” returned to Germany and took the two main events last Sunday – a listed race for fillies at Hanover and the Group Three German St.Leger at Dortmund. The former event was won by the Irish-bred Firebird Song (Invincible Spirit), who is trained in France by Henri-Alex Pantall and was ridden by Soufiane Saadi. Firebird Song took the lead early in the straight and was never in danger, scoring by two lengths from Brümmerhof´s Best on Stage (Pastorius) and Dr. Berglar´s Nyala (Maxios), who were separated by a neck for second and third place.
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Baden-Baden´s Grosse Woche is now behind us, and quite apart from the spectacular victory of Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) in the Grosser Preis, one of the most interesting results was the previous day´s Zukunftsrennen, won in good style by Gestüt Schlenderhan´s homebred Alson (Areion). The German programme for two-year-olds is heavily concentrated in the late summer and autumn; while French, Irish and British juveniles are already active in the early spring, this age group does not start to race here until Baden-Baden´s Spring Meeting in early June and only really gets going from August onwards. This is because German-breds are normally regarded as late developers, and it is certainly the case that almost all leading German breeders are much more interested in producing classic contenders (i.e. three-year-olds) than the more precocious types that win the early races for youngsters.
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Godolphin was the dominating factor at Baden-Baden last weekend. First by buying the three top lots at the BBAG Yearling Sale on Friday and contributing greatly to the success of the sale; then by winning the two most important races on the Sunday, first the Group Two Oettingen-Rennen over a mile with Vintager (Mastercraftsman), and then, far more importantly, the Group One 147th Longines Grosser Preis von Baden, normally Germany´s most prestigious race, in spectacular fashion with Ghaiyyath (Dubawi)
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We are now halfway through the “grosse Woche” at Baden-Baden, Germany´s most important race meeting of the year. Although it would be fair to say that the meeting so far has been relatively low key, with only a couple of good races and a lot of poor ones, this weekend´s racing is something to look forward to, with strong fields and very competitive racing with a lot of runners from abroad, especially from the U.K.
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Last weekend in Germany was very low key, hardly surprising following three successive Sundays with Group One races, and with Baden-Baden just around the corner. The most valuable event was a BBAG sales race at Hanover over the intermediate distance of 1750 metres. King (Lord of England) and Say Good Buy (Showcasing) had top weight here, but the former started at odds on after an impressive success in a similar race at Hamburg, where Say Good Buy had only finished sixth. However it had been raining for several hours, and King never featured and did not seem to act on the ground, while Say Good Buy clearly loved it, going well clear in the straight to win by ten lengths at the lucrative odds of over 18-1.
weiterlesen »This year´s BBAG Yearling Sale, which takes place next Friday in the BBAG sales ring, just down the road from Iffezheim (Baden-Baden) racecourse, will attract its usual batch of national and international agents, breeders and owners, many of whom will be flying over in a specially commissioned plane on the Wednesday evening from the Goffs Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale. The German sale is now well established on the international scene and enjoys a strong reputation for well-bred yearlings at reasonable prices. There are no such stallion stars here as Galileo and Dubawi, but plenty of leading international sires such as Sea The Stars, Siyouni, Nathaniel or Kingman are represented, as well as some highly interesting first season sires. Last year´s top two lots were knocked down for only 280,000 euros; one of them, Miss Yoda (Sea The Stars- Monami (Sholokhov)) has already shown considerable talent by winning in good style first time out for John Gosden.
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