The English page - Two in a row

The big race last weekend in Germany was the WEMPE 907th German 1,000 Guineas at Düsseldorf, which featured two strong contestants from Newmarkert: William Haggas´ Cristal Fizz (Power) and Hugo Palmer´s Unforgetable Filly (Sepoy). Both trainers knew what was required, as Haggas had sent Lockheed (Exceed and Excel) to Cologne four weeks earlier to finish a neck second  in the German 2,000 Guineas with the same jockey, Pat Cosgrave, aboad and the colt was sold last Monday for an amazing 900,000 GBP at the Goffs London Sale, while Palmer had won the 1,000 Guineas last year with Hawksmoor (Azamour) – a good winner at the recent big Belmont Park meeting – and had booked the same jockey, James Doyle.

Unforgetable Filly, who had earlier been a good sixth in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket, was generally regarded as the stronger of this pair and was expected to start favourite, but in fact local punters in the end narrowly preferred Andreas Wöhler´s Australian-owned Delectation (Delegator), who had won the main trial with several of these opponents behind, but had the flopped on very bad ground in the French Guineas.

In the event, first thoughts proved best and Unforgetable Filly (spelt that way so that her name comes to the maximum allowed eighteen spaces) ran out a very easy winner. She was held up by James Doyle in fifth/sixth place as Alwina set a furious pace up front, but could always be seen to be going very smoothly. Alwina dropped out before the distance and another Areion filly Arazza, who had been chasing her, went on, but by now Unforgetable Filly was in a full cry and she led inside the final furlong and quickly put the race to bed. This was a very convincing performance, and Bruce Raymond, who was representing the owners of both Newmarket runners, suggested afterwards that the Group One Falmouth Stakes could be the next race for Unforgetable Filly and this was later confirmed by the trainer, who was home making his Royal Ascot arrangements.

Dr. Christoph Berglar´s homebred Peace in Motion (Hat Trick), despite visibly tiring in the final stages, ran on for second and Arazza did extremely well to hold on for third from the fast-finishing Delectation, who came from a long way back and did not get a clear run early in the straight. She might have finished second otherwise, but was never gloing to beat the winner. Cristal Fizz never really got into the race; she kept on at one pace for fifth place . four lengths behind the first four, and ran flat according to her jockey. The rest never got involved, although Hargeisa (Speightstown) is excused as she was suffering badly from the heat.

Unforgetable Filly is from the first Northern hemisphere crop of Sepoy (Elusive  Quality), a champion two-year-old in Australia. He has already had Group Three winners in Europe and down under, but this was his first Group Two and first classic. Owned and bred by Darley, he shuttles between Dalham Hall in Newmarket and Kelvinside in New South Wales.  She was bred by Rabbah Bloodstock and runs in the colours of Dr. Ali Ridha. Before the race there was some doubt as to whether she would stay a mile, as Sepoy had won ten of his first eleven starts in Australia, but all at six furlongs or shorter, and the bottom line is also more notable for sprinting types. However she certainly got the mile here easily enough, although whether she is good enough to win a top Group One remains to be seen. The time of the race was extremely fast – in line with most other races in Western Europe this week – and was in fact the best since another Newmarket raider, Crimplene (Lion Cavern),who won this race in the year 2000, and she did go on to win Group One races. Unforgetable Filly has been given a provisional rating of 110 (=95 GAG), which makes her an above average winner of the German 1,000 Guineas.

The only other significant race last weekend was the listed swb –Derby Trial at Bremen, which however turned out be a damp squib, as the winner Walsingham (Campanologist) is not entered in next week´s Deutsches Derby and nor is the third-placed  Amigo (Lord of England). Runner-up Instigator (Nayef) could run, but would need to show considerable improvement to figure.

With the six day Hamburg Derby meeting starting on Friday of next week, this weekend is obviously very quiet on the racing front in Germany.  The only black type event is the Group Three Grosser Preis der Wirtschaft over the intermediate distance of 1750 metres at Dortmund. Palace Prince (Areion) won the Group Two Badener Meile last time, but it will be tough for him to confirm the form under his penalty, while Wonnemond (Areion) finished third in that race and El Loco (Lope de Vega) a disappointing sixth of six. Boscaccio (Mount Nelson) is back to form and Wild Chief (Doyen) has definite possibilities at this best, but the two to beat are surely Dragon Lips (Footstepsinthesand) and Noor al Hawa (Makfi). The former, the only three-year-old in the field, has been supplemented; after winning the Dr. Busch-Memorial he was certainly not disgraced when fourth in the German 2,000 Guineas. However Noor al Hawa seems the most likely winner. he was runner-up to the smart Potemkin (New Approach) in this race last year and has since won the Qatar Derby and finished runner-up in the valuable H.H. The Emir´s Trophy, also at Doha.

David Conolly-Smith