The English Page: Iquitos back to his best

Last Sunday´s Group One Grosser Dallmayr-Preis over ten furlongs at Munich was the best race run so far in Germany this year and had very worthy winner in Iquitos (Adlerflug). The five-year-old won last year´s Grosser Preis von Baden and was subsequently voted Germany´s Horse of the Year and also crowned German Racing Champions League winner. But he had not won since that Baden-Baden race, although he was certainly not disgraced when seventh in the Japan Cup and had also run respectably when runner-up on both his starts this year. Connections were not very confident before the Munich race, feeling that he still needed the race after recovering from an eye injury and that the distance was possibly too short; he paid almost 6-1 on the course tote, too much really when one considers that he was the highest-rated runner.

Iquitos had a new jockey this time, Daniele Porcu, but he knew how the horse was to be ridden – dropped out and then a late run - and carried out these tactics perfectly. Second last into the straight as a strong pace was set up front, he made smooth progress to hit the front about a furlong out and kept on strongly to win by one and a half lengths from Best Solution (Kodiac), in Godolphin´s second colours, with the two favourites Potemkin (New Approach) and Enjoy Vijay (Nathaniel) in third and fourth. Noor Al Hawa (Makfi) and Godolphin´s first string Prize Money (Authorized) were fifth and sixth with the field well strung out at the finish.

The only real hard luck story concerned Potemkin, whose saddle slipped early in the straight; he could well have given the winner a race otherwise, but as it is he finished third in this race for the second time. Parviz (Lope De Vega), one of two three-year-olds in the line-up, the other being Enjoy Vijay, came back with a nosebleed after banging his head in the starting stall, but he looked well held on form in any case.

Iquitos went into the race as the best horse in the field, and that he came out of it as well. He is a great credit to his veteran trainer Hans-Jürgen Gröschel, who has postponed his retirement because of this one horse, and he is a fine advertisement for his sire Adlerflug (In The Wings), winner of the 2007 German Derby. Iquitos is likely to try to repeat his Baden-Baden victory next and then go for the Arc. “We know we have no chance of winning in Chantilly,” said his trainer after the race, “but we want to give him a chance of racing against the top stars, so that we know where we stand with him.” If he runs well in those races there are several valuable races waiting for him in the late autumn for which he is now qualified – Japan again, Hong Kong, Australia. This is certainly a nice position to be in for the owners, a bunch of golfing friends. The form of the race certainly looks solid enough, and the handicapper has put Iquitos up to his 2016 rating of GAG99 (=118 international rating).

This Sunday we have another top Group One race with a strong field, the 159^th Henkel  Preis der Diana (German Oaks), with 16 runners. Clear favourite here is Godolphin´s Wuheida (Dubawi), who has eight pounds in hand on official ratings and is also well drawn in 2. Wuheida won both her starts last year, including a convincing victory in the Group One Marcel Boussac, and was regarded as her stable´s main Oaks hope. A setback in the spring put her out of that race, but she made a good comeback when runner-up to the smart Roly Poly (a Group One winner again since) in the Falmouth Stakes. She has never yet run beyond a mile, but on pedigree that should be no problem. Trained by Charlie Appleby and to be ridden by William Buick, she obviously holds very good prospects here.

It is difficult to predict which of the fifteen German-trained fillies could be her main opponent. Peter Schiergen, who has a good record here, saddles four runners, with his main jockey Andrasch Starke on easy Hamburg winner Lacazar (Adlerflug); however it cannot have been an easy decision for Starke, who claims all four would normally be good enough. Andreas Wöhler has won this race for the past three seasons, and he has three runners, with his stable jockey Eduardo Pedroza on Prima Violetta (Areion); but his other two runners , Russian-owned Megera (Motivator)(jim Crowley) and Jaber Andullah´s Shy Angel (Zamindar) (Jozef Bojko) look equally dangerous.

With 500,000 euros in prize-money this is the second-richest race in the German calendar. Markus Klug already has already won the richest race, the German Derby, with a Gestüt Röttgen homebred and now saddles two more for the same owner-breeder, with stable jockey Adrie de Vries – now happily back in action after his long injury break- on Alicante (Lando) If there is one who can beat those fillies mentioned above, it is likely to be the Ullmann stable´s Tusked Wings (Adlerflug). However Wuheida clearly sets the standard here. She was pulled out of Goodwood´s Nassau Stakes yesterday because of the heavy ground; the going is expected to be much more suitable here and she will take all the beating.

David Conolly-Smith