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.
We hope that our readers followed our predictions in last week´s English page, as they were spot on in the two most important races of the weekend. The top events worldwide were run on Saturday evening local time at Meydan during the Dubai World Cup meeting. At the time in 1996, the race was intended to be the richest race in the world; this is no longer the case – the Saudi Cup now has that honour. The winner in 1996 was Cigar, trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Jerry Bailey. An all American success and the early editions by horses trained in the U.S. or U.K. They were run at the racecourse at Nad al Sheba and the present course was at Meydan was opened in 2010. The next year, I.e. 2011, it was won by the Japanese-trained Victoire Pisa, which was regarded as a sensation.
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We have to start this page with an apology, for missing last week´s page, which was due to technical problems. As a result our regular readers will have missed our comments on last Sunday´s racing at Dortmund, the ninth and final day of the German winter season. To be honest, we have not missed a great deal. The racing was for the main part of a very low level. Hardly any races were worth more than 3,000 euros to the winner and very few winners reached a German GAG rating above 70 (i.e.60 international). As always the meeting was dominated by course specialists. One horse, the 6yo gelding Alargedram (Lope de Vega) ran at all 9 meetings; his 16 starts here so far, 15 of them on the sand track have brought him so far two victories, three places and just over 7,000 euros, barely enough for a small one.
This column suggested last week that the winter was almost over and spring was just around the corner. However it seems that we were a little premature, it has snowed heavily in most parts of Germany. The winter season continues, and for the next two weeks the only racing – as was in any case scheduled- will be on the sand track at Dortmund. There has been racing at Dortmund since 1893 and the current track was built in 1913, with the sand track added in 1981. It was intended to be a winter track and was floodlit for evening racing as well. At the time it was the first all-weather track in Europe.
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As we now move into March, there are clear signs that spring is on the way, although it still seems very cold in most parts of Germany. There is still very little happening in Germany, but last week we had the Saudi World Cup with 20 million US $ the most valuable race ruin in the world. The race was run on the dirt track at the King Abdulaziz racecourse in Riyadh, which is regarded on one of the world´s best dirt tracks and there was a strong entry from Japan and the United States; not surprisingly they dominated the event, with Japanese-trained Panthalassa (Lord Konaloa) making all the running to win comfortably from U.S.-trained Country Grammer (Tonalist), runner-up for the second time, while it was also the second successive victory in this event for a Japanese horse: In recent years the Japanese have been extremely successful in such races.
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Ante-post betting on British and Irish racing is very popular, and in particular at the moment when there is a lively betting market on all 28 races to be run at next month´s N.H. Festival at Cheltenham. This is not the case in Germany, where there is only one race which sttracts serious ante-post betting, the Group One Deutsches Derby at Hamburg on July 2nd – incidentally the same day as the Irish Derby at The Curragh is run. That could well have quite an impact. There is also an ante-post market on the German Oaks (Preis der Diana at Düsseldorf on August 6th), but to nowhere near the same extent.
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There is very little racing on at present, and hardly any in Germany, but this is the time of year when breeders and the owners of stud farms are making their plans for the upcoming breeding season. We have already this month had the Irish stallions trail, with no fewer than 140 stallions paraded, and the equivalent event in Normandy, the most important area in France. Germany´s bloodstock industry is tiny in comparison, with only about 40 active sires based in this country, but it is still impressive that 16 of them (nearly half) will be paraded at the “Züchtertreff” (“breeders´ get-together”) at Gestüt Röttgen this coming Saturday (January 28th).
There is very little happening in German racing at the moment. There are six more fixtures on Dortmund´s sand track until late March, when racing on turf begins again. In the meantime there will be plenty of German-trained runners at the Cagnes-sur-Mer meeting, which started this week, and also a few at the St. Moritz meeting on the frozen lake in February (assuming the weather allows this to take place). There have also been entries for German runners at the extremely valuable meetings in Saudi Arabia next month, as well as the Dubai Racing Carnival.
There is very little happening in German racing at the moment. There are six more fixtures on Dortmund´s sand track until late March, when racing on turf begins again. In the meantime there will be plenty of German-trained runners at the Cagnes-sur-Mer meeting, which started this week, and also a few at the St. Moritz meeting on the frozen lake in February (assuming the weather allows this to take place.) There have also been entries for German runners at the extremely valuable meetings in Saudi Arabia next month, as well as the Dubai Racing Carnival.
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As mentioned here last week, the number of active thoroughbred stallions standing in Germany has shrunk quite alarmingly this year, in line with the number of broodmares. There were 100 stallions standing here at the turn of the century and now only half that number. And to be brutally frank, only half of these are of really serious interest. However the three new sires for 2023 are definitely of interest. They followed a strong intake in 2022, featuring notably Japan, Alson and Windstoss, while this year`s top newcomers are Torquator Tasso, Nerik and Rubaiyat. We dealt with the 2021 Arc winner Torquator Tasso in some depth last week, now we shall have a look at Nerik and Rubaiyat.
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This is a very quiet time of year for German racing. We have just two days´ racing in Germany in January, both on Dortmund´s sand track, and another two more at Dortmund in February. There is then racing on three successive Sundays in March, followed by the first turf fixture, at Düsseldorf on March 28th. There is therefore no racing at all on most of the weeks in the immediate future. This is to a certain extent a reflection of the fact that the industry has shrunk quite alarmingly this century; there are now only about 2,000 horses in training, compared to well over 3,000 just 20 years ago. To a certain extent this is also due to the fact that the only other winter track, at Neuss and founded in 1875, closed down three years ago. This has also impacted on the breeding situation.
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There are only two more race days left in Germany this year, at Mülheim on turf (weather permitting) on Boxing Day and on New Year´s Eve on Dortmund´s sand track, and from then on Dortmund has a monopoly until the end of March. It is therefore an appropriate time to look back at the events of 2022, a difficult year in view of the continuing covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused massive problems, not only for the world of racing. However the German racing and breeding industries held up well, with crowds and betting turnover back to near 2019 levels, and it must be said that the level of German form, and in particular the top mile and a half races, has held up really well.
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There was racing on turf at Baden-Baden last Saturday, but from now on we are only going to have racing on the sand track at Dortmund for the next three months. The sole exception is the traditional Boxing Day fixture at Mülheim, but there must be a slight doubt about that as winter seems to have arrived and it has now turned very cold. Dortmund´s winter meeting begins this Sunday and there are in all ten days scheduled: New Year´s Eve, followed by two days in January, two more in February and four in March, almost all on Sunday with a very early start. This means that there are several weeks in January and February with no racing at all in Germany. This is mainly due to the fact that the other all-weather track, in Neuss, is now closed and extremely unlikely ever to reopen. Racing on turf resumes in April with the first group race on the 16th, the Kalkmann Frühjahrsmeile at Düsseldorf.
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