The English Page - Timetable remains very uncertain

The executive committee of Deutscher Galopp (aka Direktorium) is meeting later today (Thursday) to decide the timetable for the next few weeks of racing in Germany. Their decisions will not be known until after these lines are written, but it is already clear that the revised schedule published just over a week ago was too optimistic and several changes will have to be made. The German government announced yesterday (Wednesday) that the current restrictions will remain in place until May 3^rd at least, so that it is extremely unlikely that the original plan to race at Hanover on May 1^st and at Cologne, with two important group races, on May 3^rd can be maintained.

France and the U.K. were also hoping to resume racing at the beginning of May but that is now off the agenda as well. The French restrictions are to stay in effect until at least May 11^th while the BHA (British Horseracing Authority) has cancelled all British racing for the time being, stating that racing can only resume “when we have the right conditions.” It is also clear that when it resumes it will only be behind closed doors until mid-June at least.

More worrying is that the French government has also declared that no major public events will be allowed to take place until July 11^th at the earliest, while Angela Merkel has said that none can take place in Germany until the end of August. What exactly is meant by a major event has not been officially defined, but obviously sporting events attracting a normal crowd of 10,000 or more will come into this category. For German racing, this means that fixtures such as the Mehl-Mülhens-Rennen (2,000 Guineas ) at Cologne on June 1^st, the German 1,000 Guineas at Düsseldorf on June 7^th, the German Derby at Hamburg on July 5^th, the popular meeting at Bad Harzburg in late July, the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis at Munich on July 26^th, the Preis der Diana (Oaks) at Düsseldorf on August 2^nd, and the Grosser Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten on August 9^th are all under threat, as it is hard to imagine these race days taking place without spectators – and if they do actually take place, only at a considerable financial loss. The Spring Meeting at Baden-Baden has already been reduced to two days (May 23/24) but even that looks doubtful now, while the big late summer meeting there – the Grosser Woche scheduled from August 29th to September 6^th –could also be problematic. The BBAG has already cancelled, or rather postponed, their spring sale and breeze-up, which normally takes during the Spring Meeting.

Just about the only racing to have taken place in Europe for the past four weeks has been trotting from Sweden, and with all due respect we cannot imagine regular racegoers being very satisfied with that. Many of the Swedish races are being taken by the PMU, but with almost all bars and cafes closed in France, this will not help a great deal and the off-track betting giant is obviously suffering, and with it the whole of the French racing industry. In the U.K. and Ireland all betting shops are closed, as in Germany, but clients can still bet online. According to a front page article in the Financial Times last Saturday, bookies have noticed not only a huge surge of interest in Swedish trotting, but also in marble racing, table tennis, Russian volleyball, Australian greyhound racing and Taiwanese basketball.

In Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and some U.S. states, racing is continuing behind closed doors with online betting. All of these countries have some top races currently, or coming up soon, but events such as the Kentucky Derby have already been postponed until September. Amazingly it has been reported from Japan that betting turnover is at the moment 82% of the normal, pre-crisis level.

The classic season is already under way in that country, and last weekend the Oka Sho at Hanshin, the local equivalent of the 1,000 Guineas, was won in excellent style by Daring Tact from the first crop of Japan Cup winner Epiphaneia (Symboli Kris S); she is likely to go next for the Yushun Himba (Oaks) and the way in which she ran on here from a long way back suggests that the extra distance will be no problem. This Sunday we have the Satsuki Sho (2,000 Guineas) at Nakayama, in which the two unbeaten colts Salios (Heart´s Cry), out of the German Preis der Diana winner Salomina (Lomitas), and Contrail (Deep Impact) are the likely favourites.

In Australia too it is full steam ahead, despite quite heavy restrictions, as English jockey Tom Marquand found to his cost last week. He is currently enjoying a very successful busman´s holiday down under and won last week´s Group One Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick on the William Haggas-trained Addeybb (Pivotal); this was the 6yo´s second big success this season in Australia, and Marquand was so overcome with emotion after the race that he hugged the groom in front of the stands, resulting in a A$ 2,000 fine by the stewards for not keeping his distance as required. Gestüt Görlsdorf-bred Master of Wine (Maxios) finished an excellent fourth in that prestigious event, Master of Wine, a 60,000 guineas Tattersalls (October Book Two) yearling had been previously trained in England by Andrew Balding, and had won his three previous races in Australia, but this was his best performance yet.

On the same card, another German-bred finished fourth in the day´s other top race, the Sydney Cup over two miles. This was the Wittekindshof-bred Sweet Thomas (Dylan Thomas), who was trained by Andreas Suborics to win the German St. Leger in 2018. The 8yo gelding, from the same family as the above-mentioned Salomina, is regarded as a potential Melbourne Cup contender and as was the case with Master of Wine, this was his best performance so far in Australia after several less convincing efforts.

German-breds have a tall reputation down under, and with good reason. There are several more major events coming up both there and in the U.S. and Hong Kong in the near future, as well as the Japanese race referred to earlier and we hope to be back next week with more positive news about the plans for German racing in the current lockdown and in the immediate period afterwards, as well as, we hope, some more good performances worldwide for thoroughbreds with German connections.

David Conolly-Smith