The English page - International fields at Hoppegarten

Last Sunday´s Group One Henkel 161st Preis der Diana (German Oaks) was a messy, and in many respects unsatisfactory, race. This should in no way detract from the performance of the winner, Gestüt Brümmerhof´s homebred Diamanta (Maxios), who won fair and square and was clearly the best horse on the day. However she certainly had the run of the race, which can hardly be said of several of her rivals.

The trouble began right at the start when Schlenderhan´s first string Ismene (Tertullian) stumbled and sent jockey Filip Minarik flying. Ismene then continued running, and in fact led most of the way, but certainly caused problems for some of the other runners. Her stable companion Mythica (Adlerflug) soon took it up, with Diamanta, drawn 1, close up on the inside and Röttgen´s Akribie (Reliable Man), winner of the main trial, outside her. The favourite, the supplemented Durance (Champs Elysees) was also on the outside, but made a sudden forward move on the turn into the straight, was then switched to the inside and led more than two furlongs out. This looked like a winning move, but only briefly, as Diamanta was going really well and asserted readily a furlong out to score by one and three quarters lengths. It was very close for the places, with Naida (Reliable Man) running on very strongly to take second on the line from Durance, with the fast-finishing Satomi (Teofilo) only a nose back in fourth. Akribie and Donjah (Teofilo), having her first race of the season after several minor setbacks, were not far away in fifth and sixth, and in fact there were only about seven lengths at the line between the winner and the last-placed finisher.  

Obviously it is impossible to say what would have happened without the loose horse, but it is clear that the inside draw is an advantage at this tight track – the first two were drawn 1 and 2, while those on the outside faced traffic problems. It is also worth bearing in mind that Ismene, when winning the Mülheim trial, beat Naida with Diamanta well back. But basically the form of the main trials leading up to the race were confusing, so that it was really not such a shock that two outsiders filled the first two places.

But take nothing away from the winner, who will now go down in the record books and recorded a first success in the race for trainer Markus Klug and jockey Maxim Pecheur, who is having a great season. Klug had three runners in the race, and the others, Akribie and Satomi, also finished in the money, so it was a great result for him, although he freely admitted that Diamanta was the least fancied of his trio. It was also an excellent result for Brümmerhof, whose supposed first string for the race, Anna Pivola (Pivotal), had to be scratched a few days beforehand with a career-ending injury. Brümmerhof have a half-brother to Diamanta by Golden Horn entered in the upcoming BBAG yearling sale, but unfortunately sold the dam very cheaply at Arqana last December.

It was also a first top level success for the Monsun stallion Maxios, who has been standing at Fährhof since 2014. He is a champion miler from a top Niarchos family, a half-brother to Arc winner Bago and from the extended family of such stars as Northern Dancer and Machiavellian, and it was regarded as quite a coup when a group of mainly German breeders put together a syndicate to stand him in this country. However his first crop proved disappointing and the market was quick to give him an emphatic thumbs down. Diamanta, from his second crop, is therefore a very welcome winner and certainly did nothing wrong at Düsseldorf.

This weekend the action moves to the North-East, where the Berlin racetrack Hoppegarten holds its most important meeting of the year, centred on Sunday´s Group One Grosser Preis von Berlin. However there is also a highly interesting event on Saturday, a listed race over 2800 metres, which sees the return of Torcedor (Fastnet Rock); the seven-year-old gelding was trained by Jessica Harrington last year, for whom he finished a close second to Stradivarius (Sea The Stars) in the Goodwood Cup last year. He was then sold to Australian Bloodstock and transferred to Andreas Wöhler, but his first – and so far only- start in Germany was a disaster; he finished last on very heavy ground in the Preis von Europa and was found to be suffering an infection, which scuppered plans to run him in the 2018 Melbourne Cup. This year´s renewal is now the target; he is officially the highest-rated horse in Germany and on paper has a simple task on Saturday, which if all goes well, will be followed by the German St. Leger and then the trip to the “race which stops a nation.”

Andreas Wöhler also has a fancied runner in Sunday´s Grosser Preis, Jaber Abdullah´s Royal Youmzain (Youmzain) but he faces very strong opposition from the three foreign runners. Godolphin won the race last year and this time have supplemented Old Persian (Dubawi), winner of this year´s Sheema Classic in Dubai. He ran badly on his only start since, in the Coronation Cup at Epsom, but that was not his true form and if back to his Meydan form will be a hard nut to crack here. Mark Johnston, who knows what is required to win top German races, saddles Communiqué (Casamento), who finished in front of Old Persian at Epsom and has won two Group Twos at Newmarket over this distance in 2019. French raider French King (French Fifteen) is much improved and unbeaten in three starts this year, two of them German Group Twos, including the Grosser Hansa-Preis at Hamburg, in which he was not hard pressed to defeat Royal Youmzain by 2 1/2 lengths, with Alounak (Camelot) last of the six runners. Alounak, who has since run well when fourth in a Munich Group One on soft ground (which he is unlikely to find here), Is also in the line-up, as is local hope Andoro (Jukebox Jury), eighth in the German Derby last time out. Realistically, Royal Youmzain, a close third in this race last year, is the only German runner likely to finish in the frame.

There are also two listed races on Sunday´s card, which have international fields as well. The Hoppegartner Stutenpreis for fillies and mares over 1800 metres has four four-year-olds up against nine three-year-olds and looks very open, while the Hoppegartener Fliegerpreis over the straight 1200 metres sees several of Germany´s better sprinters up against the lightly-raced Mubaalegh (Dark Angel) from John Hammond´s Chantilly stable.

David Conolly-Smith