The English page - German Derby Meeting at Hamburg

We are now four-sevenths of the way through Hamburg´s Derby meeting and have seen convincing winners of the main events so far. Last Saturday, the opening day, saw the 5yo mare Abadan (Samum) run out a ready winner of the listed Langer Hamburger over two miles. She is trained by Henk Grewe in Cologne and stable jockey, the young Frenchman Lukas Delozier, rode a waiting race on the grey but found himself boxed in early in the straight; luckily there was room for him to switch and Abadan quickened nicely to speed past the frontrunning Berghain (Medicean) and win easily by a length. This was the best career performance by the winner, and indeed her first black type success; she has changed hands several times, but this was a welcome change of luck for owners  Dr. Stefan Oschmann and his wife Sharpar, who race under the name of Darius Racing. They have been among the most successful owners in Germany for the past few years, but this was amazingly their first domestic winner of 2019.

The Group Two Grosser Hansa-Preis for 4yo´s and up is the traditional main feature of the first Sunday of the meeting, and once again a foreign-trained runner put paid to the local hopes. French King (French Fifteen) had made the long journey from Henri-Alex Pantall´s yard in S.W. France and it paid off handsomely with an easy victory by 2 ½ lengths from Royal Youmzain (Youmzain), currently the best older German horse over this distance of 1 ½ miles. Jockey Olivier Peslier rode him with supreme confidence and barely had to lift a finger. French King, who had in May won a similar race in Cologne equally easily, is clearly hugely improved this year and it is hard to see which German horse can defeat him if he returns for the Group One Grosser Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten next month, which is said to be his next target. It would be useful to see him in action against top international opposition, but if present plans are kept to, that is unlikely before October, when he has an entry in the “Arc.”

Monday´s main event was the Group Three  100 Jahre Hugo Pfohe-Rennen for fillies and mares over a mile. Four three-year-olds were opposed by six members of the oldr generatiuons, but it was generally believed that the younger fillies would prevail, in particular Axana and Shalona, the placed horses from the German 1,000 Guineas five weeks earlier. So it proved, as Axana led over a furlong out and quickly asserted to win cosily by 1 ½ lengths from the fast-finishing Shalona. Third, a neck back, was the 4yo Madita, who like the first two is a daughter of the Auenquelle stallion Soldier Hollow, a great achievement for Germany´s leading sire. Both Axana, whoi is traimned by Andreas Wöhler, and Madita are owned by Barry Irwin´s Team Valor; Madita isd now expected to leave Sascha Smrczek´s Düsseldorf stable and continue her career in the USA, but Axana stays with Wöhler and will now be aimed at some prestigious international events.  On this form she seems to be Germany´s best three-year-old miler of either sex.

There was another small field for Wednesday´s feature, the Group Three Sparkassen Holstein Cup over six furlongs, but another convincing winner in Gestüt Brümmerhof´ s homebred Waldpfad (Shamardal), who came from off the pace to lead 100 yards out and win easily. He is a member of the celebrated Ravensberg “W” family that continues to throw up good winners every year. Brümmerhof´s other runner Clear For Take Off finished third, so it was a good result for the stud and their main trainer Dominik Moser. Moser seems currently to have a stranglehold on the top German races over this trip, as he also trains the three-year-old Namos (Medicean), also bred by Brümmerhof but belonging to a new owner, whose victory in the Silberne Peitsche at Baden-Baden a month ago was the best performance this year by a German sprinter. Namos is shooting for the stars this Sunday, when he runs in the Group One Prix Jean Prat at Deauville.

This coming weekend we have the Group Three Grosser Preis von LOTTO Hamburg  over ten furlongs on Friday, the Group Three Mehl-Mülhens-Trophy for 3yo fillies on Saturday and of course the Derby itself on Sunday. The first-named race has another small field, but Stall Totti´s much-improved Itobo (Areion), who won in such good style at the Baden-Baden Spring Meeting, looks the obvious favourite. Danish challenger King David (Elusive City) looks the main danger. The fillies´ race is a trial for the Preis der Diana (Oaks) next month, and most of the entries could run there next. Trainer Markus Klug has a strong hand with three runners, including the likely favourite, Gestüt Park Wiedingen´s homebred Whispering Angel, who can add to Soldier Hollow´s good record at this meeting.

But clearly the most important race of the week, and of the season so far, is the IDEE 150^th Deutsches Derby, which as the name indicates is being run for the 150^th time, making it one of the oldest classics in Europe. The current Earl Derby has sent a video message of congratulation to the race club to mark this achievement. It is also by far the most valuable race in Germany with 650,000 euros in prize-money.

So far this season we have more or less surprising winners of the English, French and Irish Derby, while the German version has also seen its fair share of shock results in the past. However this time it could be different, as on all known form three colts stand out: Gestüt Ittlingen´s homebred Laccario (Scalo), trained by Andreas Wöhler; the Henk Grewe-trained Django Freeman (Campanologist), a bargain buy at 4,000 euros as a foal; and Stall Salzburg´s Quest the Moon (Sea The Moon), trained in Munich by Sarah Steinberg. All three have been remarkably consistent and none of them has ever yet finished out of the first two.

The two key races are the Bavarian Classic at Munich on May 1^st and the Union-Rennen at Cologne three weeks ago.  Django Freeman won at Munich, defeating Quest The Moon, with Dschingis First (Soldier Hollow) third, Amiro (Lord of England) fourth, Accon (Camelot) fifth and Beam Me Up (Sea the Moon) sixth, all of whom are in Sunday´s field. Laccario was an impressive winner of the Union-Rennen, with Django Freeman runner-up, Dschingis First fourth and three more of Sunday s runners further back. Clearly this makes Laccario the favourite, and he has the right pedigree, being inbred 3x3 to Laurea, the dam of two winners of the Deutsches Derby, but wherever he is, Django Freeman will not be far behind, while Quest the Moon could well improve past them both; he is the only runner actually to have won over the full Derby distance, when he took Longchamp´s Prix du Lys. History is to a certain extent against him, as no horse trained in Munich has ever yet won the Derby, nor has a lady trainer. However these records are made to be broken, and the horse itself will not be aware of any of this. A half-share in Django Freeman now belongs to an Australian syndicate and he is to continue his career down under after this race.

There is only one foreign runner, Lambourn-trained Surrey Thunder (Le Havre), but he was only third to Accon at Baden-Baden so faces a stiff task; however if the ground should go soft (which looks unlikely at the time of writing) his chances would definitely be improved. The same goes for Dschingis First (Soldier Hollow), one on five runners trained by Markus Klug and probably the best of them. He is a full-brother to Dschingis Secret and Destino, both placed on the Derby, and was a BBAG sales-topper at 500,000 euros in 2017.

Although this has been mainly a disappointing season so far for German-trained runners, signs are that this year´s crop of three-year-old middle distance performers is well up to scratch and we need a convincing winner on Sunday to give us hope for the second half of the season.

David Conolly-Smith