The English page - Flat season in full flow

With the Grand National now behind us, our tip Delta Work (by Network (Monsun)) finished an honourable third of 40 under a huge weight, we can now concentrate on flat racing and this week saw the opening of the top French racecourse Longchamp and also the top British course at Newmarket. Both meetings ended with good results from the point of view of German breeding.

The meeting at Newmarket was dominated by Godolphin and their main trainer Charlie Appleby, who won several of the top races and look set for another highly successful season. One of their lesser victories, but still quite likely to be significant, was that of New London (Dubawi) in a well contested novice race for 3yo´s. New London is out of Bright Beacon (Manduro), who was bred by Newsells Park and failed to win in three starts. However her own dam was none other than Waldmark (Mark of Esteem), and she is thus a member of the extremely successful Ravensberg “W” family and closely related to German Derby winner Waldpark, Arc winner Waldgeist and Doncaster St. Leger winner Masked Marvel, currently doing well as a N.H. sire. It seems very likely that New London, now unbeaten in two starts, will continue to improve; he is entered in the Dante Stakes and the Epsom Derby, and looks almost certain to be up to group race standard.

Of course, had Bright Beacon been born in Germany (also, for that matter Masked Marvel, also bred by Newsells Park), their names must have started with the letter “W”, as it is mandatory here to name foals after their dam (i.e. with the same first letter). We fully approve of this regulation, which makes it much easier to follow these families through several generations, and it is a great shame that this procedure is not followed in every country. Some leading breeders do so anyway, such as the Aga Khan.

At Longchamp two more of Germany´s leading historical families were to the fore. Both races for unraced 3yo´s were won by a horse trained by Francis-Henri Graffard and owned and bred by Gestüt Schlenderhan. Both are also by the late lamented Adlerflug (In The Wings), who won the German Derby for Schlenderhan in 2007. Adlerflug began his career at the equally historic Gestüt Harzburg, which dates back to the 15^th century. Sadly, Harzburg closed for renovations a few years ago and it is currently very uncertain whether it will ever be used for breeding thoroughbreds in future. At all events, Adlerflug moved back to Schlenderhan, Germany´s oldest private stud founded in 1869 and indeed spent his last years before his untimely death at Easter last year standing in the box previously occupied by the great Monsun. That one of course proved to be the most successful sire in German racing history, and Adlerflug seems well on the way to proving to be equally successful.

He has already sired two Horses of the Year in Germany, the multiple Group One winner Iquitos and last year´s Arc winner Torquator Tasso (still in training), but he also had last Sunday´s big winner in Germany, of which more later. But these two winners at Longchamp both looked like potential group race horses, and we shall certainly seem more of them this season. Both these races were over 2100 metres. The race confined to fillies was won by Swoosh, who is out of a Monsun mare and a full sister to German Derby runner-up Savoir Vivre. She is also closely related to the multiple Group One winner Stacelita (Monsun), herself in the headlines this week as the grandam of Stars of Earth (Duramante), winner of the Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas). Stacelita had previously bred another Japanese classic winner in the top class Soul Stirring (Frankel). This family traces back to the mare who was arguably the best all-time product of Schlenderhan breeding, the wartime German Derby winner Schwarzgold (Alchimist).

The colts´ race was won in equally facile fashion by Alerio, whose dam Amazona (Dubawi) was a group race winner from another highly successful Schlenderhan family, that of recent Group One winner Alson, now a sire, also German Oaks winner Amarette and Melbourne Cup winner Almandin. As these races were over an extended ten furlongs it is highly probably that both winners will stay the full Derby distance and they are both well entered. For Schlenderhan there was more good news at Longchamp, as Mare Australis (Australia) ran a good race in the Group Two Prix Harcourt and also looks set for a good season.

And for Adlerflug himself there was more success as his 4yo son Mythico was a narrow winner of Germany´s first group of the year, the Kalkmann Frühjahrsmeile at Düsseldorf. Mythico, homebred by Dr. Thomas Bretzger (Stall tmb), won last year´s German 2,000 Guineas and is clearly one of Germany´s leading milers, as is Rubaiyat (Areion), who just went under by a short head in a desperate finish. Both can be expected to meet again this year and there is obviously very little between them. Mythico is also out of a Monsun mare, so the Schlenderhan connection is clear. Schlenderhan has remained in the possession of the Oppenheim (now Ullmann) family ever since its foundation, and a member of the youngest generation of this family, Philip von Ullmann, was at Paris to see their runners at Longchamp.

He thereby missed witnessing the victory of one of his own horses, Quarantini (Belardo), who won a maiden race for fillies in very promising style at Düsseldorf. Quarantini, a 40,000 euros BBAG yearling purchase, was bred by Gestüt Fährhof and is from another extremely successful family here, that of her grandam Quebrada (Devil's Bag), winner of the German 1,000 Guineas in 1993 and also runner-up in the Preis der Diana. Quebrada also turned out to be an influential broodmare, her direct descendants including the Group One winner and successful sire in South Africa Querari as well as Scandinavian champion Quarterback and numerous other black type performers. A 2yo member of this family was sold earlier this week at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale for 310,000 guineas to Godolphin. Quarantini herself was placed twice in France last year, when trained by Graffard, but has now been transferred to Markus Klug, who clearly holds the filly in high regard. She is likely to go next for the Schwarzgold-Rennen (named after Schlenderhan´s brightest star), the top trial for the German 1,000 Guineas, and then, all being well, for the classic itself.

The other interesting 3yo maiden winner at Düsseldorf was Open Skies, whose sire Australian-bred Counterattack (Redoute´s Choice) now stands at Gestüt Karlshof. Although Counterattack was basically a sprinter, his offspring seem to stay middle distances well enough and Open Skies, who scored very smoothly over 2100 metres, is entered in the Union-Rennen and the Deutsches Derby. He runs in the old familiar colours of Albert Steigenberger, one of the most colourful German owner-breeders of the late 20^th century. Open Skies, bred by Karlshof, is now owned by three partners calling themselves Legal Horizon Racing, one of whom is Albert´s son Vincent. Open Skies certainly looks a good prospect and it will be interesting to see how high he goes.

There is plenty of good racing this coming Easter weekend, with three group races at Newbury on Saturday and three more at Longchamp on Sunday. In Germany there is racing at Bremen on Saturday, at Hoppegarten on Sunday with three listed races, and at Cologne and Hanover on Monday; Monday´s Carl Jaspers Preis at Cologne is the first Group Two of 2022 in Germany and has attracted a strong field, while Hanover also has a listed race in the card. We shall have plenty to write about next week.

David Conolly-Smith