The English page: Racing & Breeding in Germany 5

The Group Three Frühjahrs-Preis des Bankhauses Metzler, run over ten furlongs at Frankfurt last Sunday, has been one of the most significant trials for the Deutsches Derby (Hamburg, July 5th) ever since its inception in 1965 and it has been sponsored by the Metzler bank since 2000. The roll of honour for this event includes many champions, including Sayonara (dam of Derby winner Slip Anchor) in 1968, the only German triple crown winner Königsstuhl in 1979, his best son (and champion sire) Monsun in 1993, and last year of course the outstanding German Derby winner Sea The Moon.

Whether this year´s winner Shadow Sadness (Soldier Hollow) will be of this standard remains to be seen. He came into the race as a maiden, with the lowest rating of all eight runners and started as the longest outsider at odds of almost 29-1. However he was clearly the best horse on the day and won fair and square; he was held up in last place while Space Cowboy (Adlerflug) set a strong pace, and came with a sweeping run on the outside to lead inside the final furlong and score by a length and a half from Ittlingen´s homebred Areo (Medicean), with Stall Margarethe´s homebred Fair Mountain (Tiger Hill) just pipping Space Cowboy for third. The latter had tired quickly inside the distance and hung right, clearly irritating Areo, but that one would not have won anyway.

Areo should certainly win a decent race, but being by Medicean out of a Pivotal mare, he may be suited by middle distances, and Shadow Sadness is clearly the horse to take out of the race. He was bred by Michael Herrmann, who has four mares at his base in Gernsheim south of Frankfurt and close to Gestüt Karlshof; he owns the winner in partnership with a friend, racing under the nom de course Stall Weiss-Blau.  Shadow Sadness is by far the best flat horse he has so far bred and owned, and it was also a first group race success for jockey René Piechulek.

The winner is by Soldier Hollow, who has already sired a Deutsches  Derby winner in Pastorius (2012), while the dam, winner of one minor race, is a daughter  of Lando, so there should be no problems with the Derby distance; in any case, he won the Frankfurt race basically by outstaying the opposition. He is a direct descendant of the great Schlenderhan mare Schwarzgold, who herself won the Deutsches Derby in 1940. The best recent runner from this branch of the family is Sommerabend (Shamardal), one of the best German miles of this century.

The complete race video, photos  and full result here (under "Renndetails"/Shadow Sadness No. 7):click!

Trainer Christian von der Recke declared immediately after the race that the colt would go straight to the Derby without another race in between. “He is very small, not much bigger than a pony, so we do not want to overwork him. He is now in any case qualified to run at Hamburg, so I see no point in running in any of the later trials.” His new official rating of 106 is almost certain to get him into the Derby field. Von der Recke himself has never yet trained a Group One winner, but knows how to get one ready, and he saddled 65-1 shot Eric (Tertullian) to finish fourth last year; Eric is one of six runners declared for this Sunday´s Group Two Gerling-Preis at Cologne.

Another Frankfurt three-year-old winner who is Derby-bound is Gestüt Karlshof´s homebred Summer Paradise (Authorized), a very easy winner over just short of eleven furlongs. He also traces back to Schwarzgold, but is from a different branch of the family. The Italian Derby at Rome  at the end of next week is his target. He is an own brother to Saint And Sinner and Sternrubin, both winners over hurdles in the U.K. this year.

The complete race video, photos  and full result here (under "Renndetails"/Summer Paradise No. 5): click!

Andreas Wöhler´s winning run came to a stop in the Frankfurt feature, where his two runners Fair Mountain, whose dam Fair Breeze (Silvano) won the Group Two Prix Corrida, and Rogue Runner (by King´s Best out of Italian Oaks runner-up Rosa di Brema) finished third and fifth respectively. However the Ravensberg trainer can be very happy with the week´s work. He had three runners and three winners at Munich on Friday, with Shining Emerald (Clodovil) winning the Group Three Silberne Peitsche by seven lengths , and clearly enjoying the rain and very soft going much more than his opponents, while he also saddled two winners on the Frankfurt undercard, including his own Holy Moly, a Mount Nelson filly who ran very green on her debut but still won in very promising fashion. Wöhler also took Düsseldorf´s main event on Sunday, a listed race for fillies, with Full Rose (Aqlaam); both she and Shining Emerald are owned by Jaber Abdullah, now by far the biggest owner in the yard, and Wöhler also sent his stayer Alex My Boy (by Dalakhani out of multiple Group One winner Alexandrova) to Longchamp to win the Prix de Barbeville. The Gold Cup at Royal Ascot could be on his agenda, but the trainer has stressed that he will not be going anywhere unless there is cut in the ground.

The complete race video, photos  and full result here (under "Renndetails"/Holy Moly No. 4): click!

The complete race video, photos  and full result here (under "Renndetails"/Summer Paradise Full Rose No. 7): click!

Wöhler was also not too downcast by the defeat of his two runners in the Metzler race. “Fair Mountain was badly drawn,” he commented, “and did very well to finish third, while Rogue Runner absolutely hated the conditions, he is much better on good going.” They should certainly not yet be written off, but the stable appears to have better candidates for the Deutsches Derby in Fährhof´s homebred Quasillo (Sea The Stars) and Karpino (Cape Cross), also bred by Fährhof but running in the colours of Pearl Bloodstock. Sheikh Fahad was here to watch the latter win the Dr. Busch-Memorial and must have been very happy with what he saw.

David Conolly-Smith