The English page - surprise in the last group I race of the season

This has been a good week for the German bloodstock industry, with many of the world´s top races won by horses with German connections. Pride of place goes to Almandin (Monsun), bred by Gestüt Schlenderhan and winner of the Melbourne Cup in the early hours of Tuesday morning (European time); he became the third son of Monsun to win this race in the past four years, an impressive record. The Australian scouts have been active in Germany for several years – since Lucas Cranach (Mamool)  finished third in the “race that stops a nation” in 2011, looking for similar types to do well in their big staying races, and have on the whole been very successful.

Almandin follows in the hoofprints of Protectionist (Monsun), the 2014 Flemington winner, whose retirement was announced this week and it is interesting to note that the two six-year-olds, who were both reared at Schlenderhan, ran against each other at the 2014 spring meeting at Baden-Baden , finishing first and second. Who could have imagined then that they would later both triumph in Australia´s best-known race?

On Sunday the final two Group One races of the French season were run at Saint-Cloud. Godolphin´s Thunder Snow ran out a very easy five lengths winner of the Criterium International; he thus became the first Group One winner for young sire Helmet, a direct descendant of Gestüt Röttgen´s celebrated mare Anna Paola. Equally impressive was Waldgeist (Galileo) who won the Criterium de Saint-Cloud and is now a leading fancy for next year´s Epsom Derby. He ran in the colours of Gestüt Ammerland, who are also his part-breeders, and is out of a Monsun mare from the famous Ravensberg family of Waldrun.

Sunday´s big race in Germany was won by Son Macia, a filly by Soldier Hollow who is now certain to be champion sire in Germany this year by a considerable margin. Son Macia is trained in Cologne by Andreas Löwe, his second group race winner in a week, who is due to retire at the end of the season. Son Macia is the first horse ever owned by Achim Weyrauch (Stall electrowelt24) and one could hardly wish for a better start. For good measure, Soldier Hollow was also the sire of Monday´s main feature at Magdeburg.

By far the best race of the week in Germany was Munich´s Group One Grosser Preis von Bayern on Tuesday (All Saints´ Day), the last big mile and a half race of the season in Europe. This is basically the successor to the old Aral-Pokal at Gelsenkirchen, which was always run in mid-August. After Gelsenkirchen´s closure, it moved to Cologne and then five years ago to Munich. However when it was proposed three years ago to move the date to November, the Munich race club were not at all enthusiastic. However the race has attracted a strong field for its three editions and has quickly established itself as a major event.

Jean-Pierre Carvalho won the first two November runnings with Ivanhowe (Soldier Hollow)and Ito (Adlerflug), another one retired this week, both in the colours of Gestüt Schlenderhan. This time he saddled two runners, Guignol (Cape Cross) and Savoir Vivre (Adlerflug), both owned and bred by the closely-associated Stall Ullmann. Savoir Vivre, for whom Christophe Soumillon had been booked, was clear favourite at 6-4 and the three Newmarket runners were expected to be his main rivals.

Guignol, with the young Italian jockey Michael Cadeddu on board, was clearly the stable´s second string and expected to act as a pacemaker. In fact he did make the running, although that – so it seems -was not the intention, and he was a good six lengths clear at the far turn. Clearly relishing the testing going, Guignol stayed on strongly and it was clear some way out that nobody was going to catch him. The two Godolphin runners Racing History (Pivotal out of a German Group One winner by Lando) and Eclipse winner Hawkbill (Kitten´s Joy) came closest  but they could make no further inroads from the distance and Guignol scored by one and three-quarter lengths at almost 33-1. He is from one of the Ullmann stable´s best families, his dam Guadalupe (Monsun) having won the Italian Oaks and been placed in the German and Yorkshire versions. Obviously this victory came as a surprise and was certainly due in part to Cadeddu´s enterprising ride, but Guignol was clearly the best horse on the day and should be a horse to follow next year, as should his stable companion Savoir Vivre, who finished a tired fifth.

The action now switches to Krefeld on Sunday, which stages the last two German group races of the year, the Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen for two-year-olds and the Niederrhein-Pokal for three-year-olds and up. Both look wide open, especially as many of the runners have met before with varying results. Markus Klug´s juveniles have been winning almost everything in sight and Colomano (Cacique), very unlucky last time, must have a chance in the former event, as well as Rolando (Campanologist) in the popular colours of former football star Klaus Allofs. Andreas Löwe holds a strong hand in the Niederrhein-Pokal with Palace Prince (Areion), an easy Baden-Baden winner last time, and Palang (Hat Trick), but the lightly-raced and very well-bred Amazone (Dubawi) from the Ullmann( Carvalho stable looks dangerous, as well as Fast Lightning from Monsun´s last crop.  

Looking further afield, we have a rare German runner in the Breeders´ Cup this weekend. This is Markus Münch´s homebred Spectre (Siyouni) who runs in the Breeders´ Cup Mile. The filly has so far run exclusively in France, where Münch used to train, and has some excellent form to her credit; she was runner-up in the Prix du Moulin, fourth in the Jacques le Marois and third in the Jean Prat, all strongly-contested Group One races. However Saturday´s race looks even tougher and she will have to run her best ever race with such as last winner´s winner Tepin (Bernstein) and Alice Springs (Galileo) in opposition.

David Conolly-Smith