The English page: Racing & Breeding in Germany 7

The season is now really hotting up, and we saw some very promising three-year-olds in action last week, with the near certainty of more to follow on this long Whit weekend. From the events of last week, pride of place clearly goes to Gestüt Fährhof's homebred Quasillo (Sea The Stars), who put up a most impressive display to win the Bavarian Classic (normally run at Munich, but this year, exceptionally, at Hanover). Quasillo, still very inexperienced according to trainer Andreas Wöhler, was ridden with the utmost confidence by stable jockey Eduardo Pedroza, who kept him towards the rear for the first mile of this ten furlongs race; switched to the wide outside in the straight, he quickened in excellent fashion and could be called the winner a long way from home.

The complete race video, photos  and full result here (under "Renndetails"/Quasillo/No. 6: Klick!

Quasillo, given a very positive mention here after winning on his debut four weeks ago, has only run twice but clearly has lots of potential; always highly regarded in his top stable, he was one of the favourites for the IDEE 146. Deutsches Derby (Hamburg, July 5th) before the race, but afterwards was promoted to clear favouritism. Sea The Stars was the sire of last year's Derby winner Sea The Moon (from his first crop) and it would no great surprise were he to double up. Quasillo is from one of Fährhof´s best families; his dam Quetena (Acatenango) has already bred one Group One winner in Querari (Oasis Dream) and this one could well follow suit.

Runner-up at Hanover was Stall Lucky Owner's homebred Ajalo (by King´s Best out of a Monsun mare), who tried to make a race of it but was effortlessly brushed aside. He was earlier runner-up at the same distance of two and a half lengths to another major  Wöhler classic prospect in Karpino (see below) and will certainly win good races; he is not in the German Derby and will probably prove best at middle distances. The decent maiden Lovato, an Ittlingen homebred by Lauro out of an Anabaa mare, ran well enough after being slightly hampered, but never looked like threatening the first two.

It was still a good day for Stall Lucky Owner (the nom de course of Klaus Hofmann) as their three-year-old filly Andraxt (Lord of England out of a Tiger Hill mare) had earlier made most of the running before coming home an easy winner over nine and a half furlongs. This was only a maiden but the field looked quite strong and we shall be hearing more of the winner.

The complete race video, photos  and full result here (under "Renndetails"/Andraxt/No. 6: Klick!

There had also been plenty of racing the previous Thursday (Ascension Day) and it was a day that Röttgen trainer Markus Klug will long keep in this memory. Last years German champion had made a slow start to the season, but he hit form with a vengeance on that day, saddling six winners at four different racecourses. His most important winner was Stall Reckendorfs Ephraim (Rail Link), who won Hoppegartens Oleander-Rennen  after making all the running at a very slow pace. He was bred by Gestüt Röttgen and her dam Enrica (Niniski) has been a highly successful broodmare, throwing Enora (Noverre) who won in the Preis der Diana in Röttgen´s own colours, as well as the Group Two winner (and multiple Group One-placed) Egerton (Groom Dancer) for Stall Reckendorf. With all due respect however, the form of this race must be slightly suspect, as the pace was funereal throughout and the winning time some twenty seconds slower than average. Certainly one cannot yet compare the winner with the now-retired Altano (Galileo), who had won this event for the past three years and was clearly the best German stayer of this decade.

The complete race video, photos  and full result here (under "Renndetails"/Ephraim/No. 5: Klick!

Klug also won the main supporting feature at Hoppegarten, a sales race over a mile, with Ice Man Star (Tertullian) who finished fast and late to defeat the favourite Drummer (Duke of Marmalade) by a head. This was a good performance as  Ice Man Star was conceding a lot of weight all round. Klug himself was at Dortmund, where he saddled the first two Alaskakönigin (Sternkönig) and Elora Princess (Desert Prince), both Röttgen homebreds and the latter closely related to Ephraim, in a listed race for fillies and mares.

The complete race video, photos  and full result here (under "Renndetails"/Ice Man Star/No. 1: Klick!

The complete race video, photos  and full result here (under "Renndetails"/Alaskakönigin/No. 3: Klick!

This coming weekend we have three more significant events for three-year-olds on the agenda. On Sunday the Hoppegarten Diana-Trial features three fillies trained by Andreas Wöhler, with Harry Bentley flying over for Australian Bloodstock's recent purchase Turfdonna (Doyen), Eddie Pedroza on Dr. Christoph Berglar's Arles (Monsun) and Jozef Bojko on Bailley (Galileo). Main opposition could come from Röttgen´s homebred Weichsel (Soldier Hollow) and Stall Nizza´s Nightflower (Dylan Thomas); the last-named has been runner-up in good company on all her three starts so far and is a three-quarters sister to the same owner´s Grosser Preis von Berlin winner Nymphea.

There is only a small field for Hanover's Derby trial on Monday, a race that has been won three times this century by the subsequent Derby winner, including Adlerflug in 2007, who is sire of one of the leading fancies this time, Gestüt Schlenderhan´s Isidor. The obvious danger is locally-trained Shimrano (Monsun), also now Australian-owned, runner-up to Quasillo at Munich a month ago when trying to concede that smart performer three kilos.

But the big race is clearly Monday's Mehl-Mülhens-Rennen at Cologne, the German version of the Two Thousand Guineas, which has been run at this track since 1986, when the winner Philipo went on to score at Hamburg. However in the 29 years since, only Lavirco has won both races, although last year Cologne winner Lucky Lion did run second at Hamburg to Sea The Moon. This time there is another live Derby candidate in the field, the Fährhof-bred but Pearl Bloodstock-owned Karpino (Cape Cross). Andreas Wöhler has made no secret of his high opinion of this colt – unbeaten in two races so far, including the Dr. Busch-Memorial- and has in fact implied that he is at least equal in ability to Quasillo. This makes him the likely favourite here, although local hope Brisanto (Dansili) not seen out since winning the Preis des Winterfavoriten over this course and distance last October, as well as the two foreign runners, Cappella Sansevero (Showcasing) trained by Ger Lyons and Fanciful Angel (Dark Angel), trained at Newmarket by Marco Botti, will certainly offer strong resistance.  Botti won this race in 2011 with Excelebration who went on to become the second best miler in Europe (behind only Frankel); if this one is as good, he will win, but a fascinating race is obviously in store.