The English page - German pedigrees in N.H. racing (1)

Racing taking place in Germany at present is only staged at the winter sand track at Dortmund, where there were 7 races last Sunday, the first fixture of 2022, with seven more scheduled for this Sunday; they also have racing there on the Sunday of next week, followed by two more in February and another two in March. The first meeting on turf takes place at Mülheim in late February, who also stage a meeting at the end of March.

It must be said that the racing at Dortmund is very low level indeed – and that is being polite. The most valuable race there last Sunday was worth 2750 euros to the winner, and the same holds for this Sunday; most races have a winner´s purse of 2000 euros. The track itself has been heavily criticized, and it is noticeable that hardly any of the leading trainers have runners there. They prefer – if they have runners at all- to run their charges at the superior all-weather tracks in France, where conditions are much better and prize-money vastly so. Today´s (Thursday´s) evening meeting on the fibresand track at Lyons-la-Soie has 8 races, with minimum prize-money (total) of 12,000 euros; not surprisingly there were plenty of German-trained runners, as there also are at Deauville and Chantilly and as there will be at the upcoming meeting at Cagnes-sur-mer beginning tomorrow (Friday). There will however be no British-trained runners there for the next two weeks at least, as travel between the U.K. and France is practically impossible at present, owing to covid-19 restrictions.

The jumps meeting at Cagnes-sur-mer ended last week with the victory of the 5yo gelding Hasard de Brion in the Grand Prix de la Ville de Nice, a Group Three steeplechase over 4600 metres. He won by a length from Peggy with the rest well back. This brings us to our main topic today, and a much more positive theme from the point of view of the German breeding industry - the excellent success rate of German-bred sires in N.H. racing. Over the next two weeks we shall look at sires with German backgrounds (i.e. bred or raced in Germany, or whose stud career began in Germany) and the many victories of their progeny in N.H. races in France, the U.K. and Ireland.

Axxos, who was bred by Gestüt Hof Ittlingen and won the Union-Rennen for them in 2007 before running up in the Grand Prix de Paris, is the sire of Hasard de Brion; Axxos is by Monsun (a huge influence in N.H. racing) and now stands at Hundred Acres Farm in Lincolnshire after spells in France in Ireland. Hasard de Brion is his biggest winner so far, but he has also had many winners in the U.K., headed by the smart handicappers Calett Mad (6 wins) and Earlofthecotswolds (8 wins). Peggy is by the Irish-bred Jukebox Jury (Montjeu), who stood for many years at Gestüt Etzean. He is probably best-known now as the sire of Höny-Hof-bred Princess Zoe, winner of the Prix du Cadran in 2020 and runner-up last year in the Ascot Gold Cup, but he also has plenty of top N.H. performers to his credit, including the Grade One hurdle winners, Stuke, champion hurdler in Italy, and Farclas, winner of the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham, both German-bred from his time at Etzean. He now stands at Burgage Stud in Ireland.

A recent Grade Two winner over hurdles is Teahupoo, who scored at the Limerick Christmas Festival and is now on course for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. He is by Masked Marvel, another son of Montjeu but despite his name a member of the highly successful Ravensberg ”W” family, being very closely related to Waldpark (Dubawi), winner of the German Derby in 2011, and also to Arc winner Waldgeist. Masked Marvel. who also had a good winner at Leicester this week, stands at Haras de la Tuilerie, while Waldpark himself is at Haras de Cercy. who also stand German-breds Ivanhowe (Soldier Hollow) and Free Port Lux (Oasis Dream). Ivanhowe, bred by Schlenderhan, is a half-brother to Grade One Fighting Fifth Hurdle winner Irving (Singspiel), while Free Port Lux is out of the Monsun mare Royal Highness, bred by Etzean and winner of the Grade One Beverly D Stakes.

Haras de le Tuilerie also stood 2008 German Derby winner Kamsin (Samum) for a couple of years before he moved last year to the Irish Annshoon Stud. Night Wish (Sholokhov) is another recent arrival at the same stud. Kamsin, bred by Karlshof, has already made his mark at a N.H. stallion; his son On the Go won the Grand Steeplechase de Paris in 2018. Night Wish, whose sire Sholokhov stood for many years at Etzean, is a full brother to German Oaks winner Night Magic out of the Monsun mare Night Woman. He has not had too many runners over jumps so far, but has already had some very promising winners. Sholokhov is best known as the sire of Don Cossack, bred by Etzean during his time there, and winner of the 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He was by Sadler´s Wells out of a Königsstuhl mare and is rated one of the best chasers in Europe this century. Sprinter Sacre was even better; the multiple Cheltenham Grade One winner was by Network, a son of Monsun bred by Wittekindshof, who died  in 2019 at Haras d´Enki after a lengthy and highly successful stallion career in France.

Current statistics show that there are at the moment four more sons of Monsun in the top 50 French N.H. sires.  Only one of them is actually now active in France, Bathyrhon at Haras de la Hetraie. The smart stayer, winner of the Group Two Prix Vicomtesse Vigier, is very young in N.H terms, his first crop being only 5yo´s, but he is already having decent winners over jumps. Manduro, generally regarded as Monsun´s best son, spent most of his stud career at Darley´s French stud Haras du Logis; he has of course had plenty of success with his runners on the flat, but has quite a number of winners over the jumps as well; he died in 2020. The well-bred Masterstroke also stood for several years at Haras du Logis, but he has now moved to Yorton Farm, a stud on the English-Welsh border now making quite a name for itself as a N.H. stallion station; Gentlewave, winner of the Italian Derby in 2006 and bred by Jürgen Winter´s Haras de la Perelle, has also moved to Yorton. He is sire of the top cross country performer Easyland, winner of that event at last year´s Cheltenham Festival.

Davidoff, bred by Klaus Schulte and winner of the Dr. Busch-Memorial in 2007, stood at Haras de Saint Arnoult; he is sire, among many others, of top hurdler Abadacabras, died a couple of years ago. The Fährhof-bred Malinas (Lomitas), runner-up to Shirocco in the 2004 German Derby, started his stud career at the Haras de la Hetraie, but is now in Ireland and had his first Grade One winner at Limerick at Christmas.

A brand new addition to the ranks of German-bred sires in France is Khan (Santiago) who won over hurdles at Ludlow earlier this week – his fifth win for trainer Milton Harris- and has been retired. The winner of the 2018 Preis von Europa for breeder Gestüt Karlshof, is to stand at Haras de Gelos near Pau. As a Group One winner and also half-brother to the above-mentioned Kamsin he should get plenty of support.

We have dealt here mainly with French-based sires, but there are far more – including many more sons of Monsun - in Ireland, where N.H. breeding is big business, much more so than in England, but the Brits (as well as the Welsh) will also get a mention when we concentrate next week on sires with German backgrounds standing in the U.K. and Ireland.

David Conolly-Smith