The English page - German fixtures in 2019 (part one)

This Sunday sees the final sand track fixture of the German winter season. Since last December we have had an unrelieved diet of mainly low level handicaps on the sand tracks at Neuss and Dortmund, always on a Sunday and usually starting at the unearthly hour of 10.50 a.m. This time is in order to keep French punters occupied – presumably after going to early morning mass - before the main action of the day starts at the Paris trotting track of Vincennes. The French PMU shows the German races on their Equidia channel, and the French betting turnover on these races is many, many times higher than the local punters stake. The average on track turnover at these meetings averages 20,000 euros, but once the turf season begins – at Krefeld on the Sunday of next week -  we can expect a significant rise in betting as the top stables start to swing into action.

The meeting next Sunday, and also the following Sunday at Düsseldorf, also have an early morning start for the PMU, but they at least have better quality handicaps and also some races for 3yo maidens; the first race at Dortmund this Sunday is the first of the year for this age group in Germany. But the real season starts on March 31st when Cologne opens its doors for the first time this season. We can certainly expect to see some of the better 3yo´s here, as well as the first black type race of 2019, the listed Grand Prix Aufgalopp for 4+ over 2100 metres, in which subsequent group race winners frequently make their seasonal debut.

The first group race of the season is the Kalkmann Frühjahrs-Meile at Düsseldorf for older horses on Sunday, April 14^th, but of more interest are two classic trials soon afterwards: the Karin Baronin von Ullmann-Schwarzgold-Rennen for fillies over a mile on Easter Monday, and the following Sunday the Dr. Busch-Memorial at Krefeld over  an extended mile. These races have attracted a good entry with many of last season´s leading juveniles entered, and they should give us a good idea of the main German hopes for the mile classics in late May. There are also a handful of foreign entries, but it is far from certain that they will run. There are no foreign entries in the pferdewetten.de Bavarian Classic on May 1^st at Munich over 2000 metres, but this is always the best early season trial for the German Derby, and several of the 3yo´s prominent in early betting on the race, which will be run at Hamburg on July 7^th, are likely to run here.

Two top races for older horses then follow. The Carl Jaspers Preis at Cologne on May 5^th is better known to most racegoers under its old name, the Gerling-Preis, and is the first Group Two of the new season. Run over 2400 metres it is regularly contested by major hopes for Germany´s Group One races over this distance in the second half of the year. Its roll of honour includes such giants of German racing and breeding as Acatenango, Monsun and Lomitas. Another Group Two, the Oleander-Rennen over two miles at Hoppegarten  on May 12th is Germany´s most important race for stayers and is sponsored by the Irish Comer Group International. The winner receives an automatic entry for the Irish St. Leger, also sponsored by Comer, and also the Belmont Gold Cup; Irish-bred and Australian-owned Red Cardinal brought off the Hoppegarten- Belmont Park double in 2017 for trainer Andreas Wöhler. Hughie Morrison´s Nearly Caught, also Irish-bred, was runner-up that year and was again second last year after being controversially disqualified. The Oleander-Rennen this year is also one of the qualifying races for the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers´ Million and it is virtually certain that there will be a strong foreign entry.

There certainly is a strong foreign entry for the two German guineas races, the Mehl Mülhens-Rennen at Cologne on May 19^th and the Wempe German 1,000 Guineas at Düsseldorf a week later, as both these races closed recently. Roughly half the entries for both races came from the U.K. and there have been many recent winners of these races from that country: four winners of the Cologne race in the past nine years (plus one French), as well as the last three winners of the fillies´ event.

Late May is a very busy time and at the end of the month we have the Baden-Baden Spring Meeting, which starts on May 30^th, with the Badener Meile as the main event, followed by the Grosser Preis derBadischer Wirtschaft (both Group Two and both for older horses) on the Sunday. There are also several important races for the classic generation at the meeting, notably the Derby-Trial on Sunday. The meeting has been cut this year from four days to three, and also features the BBAG breeze-up sale on the Friday – in which subsequent Arc and King George winner Danedream was sold for only 9,000 euros in 2010.

Early June sees the major trials for the Preis der Diana (Oaks) and German Derby, the Diana-Trial at Hoppegarten on June 9^th and the Sparkasse Köln-Bonn Union-Rennen (also with a new sponsor) at  Cologne a week later. Both races last year went to the subsequent classic winners, Well Timed and Weltstar respectively. In fact the 1-2-3 from the Union-Rennen finished 1-2-4 at Hamburg. Also noteworthy in June is the Group Three Grosser Preis der Landeshauptstadt at Dresden for 3+ over seven furlongs on the 16th, which is not only the only German pattern race over this distance (excepting one 2yo event), it is also the first ever group race to be run at this track; Hoppegarten is otherwise the only German racecourse which was previously behind the Iron Curtain to stage pattern races, it now has five of them.

The important German Derby meeting at Hamburg starts on Saturday June 29^th and ends on Derby Day, Sunday July 7^th. In all they stage six group races with the Derby itself the richest race in the German calendar with prize-money of 650,000 euros. It is also the first German Group One race of the season. Next week we hope to look at the remaining six Group One races and the fixture list for the second half of the season.

David Conolly-Smith