Breeding & Racing in Germany
In order to be of assistance to our growing number of readers from abroad, we are with immediate effect publishing in every issue of Turf Times an English page, giving in compact form all the latest racing and breeding news from Germany in English.
When we introduced “The English page” in Turf Times a few years ago, there was no question about the author. Our English readers could not be better informed about what was happening here than by David Conolly-Smith. Born in Nottingham, the Englishman, correspondent for various British and Irish specialist newspapers, German representative of the International Racing Bureau, contact point for all active people from the island, lived in Munich and horse racing was his passion. He passed away on July 9, 2023 at the age of 83. It was his wish that Shannon Patricia Spratter should continue the English-language column in his place. He was friends with her father, the Irish-born trainer John David hillis, wo is working in Munich, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Our columnist briefly introduces herself here.
Writes the column for the English-speaking Turf Times readers: Shannon Spratter with her father, former jockey and current gallop trainer, John David Hillis. Foto: privat
My name is Shannon Patricia Spratter and I was born into racing through my father, former jockey and now trainer, John David Hillis and mother, Jeanette Spratter.
Due to the recommendation of David Conolly-Smith, I have taken over his part with great enthusiasm and now write the English edition about our German racing.
When I'm not in front of the computer writing texts or pursuing my main job, I spend my time at my father's racing stable. My favourite hobby is riding races as an amateur.
We are now approaching the end of April, a time of year when normally the flat season would be in full swing in most European countries, especially with an eye on the first classics. The Craven meeting at Newmarket, for example, should have taken place last week but was of course cancelled. In Germany the first big classic trial would normally be the Dr. Busch-Memorial at Krefeld, originally scheduled for this Sunday and the Bavarian Classic at Munich on the Friday of next week, May Day. The former race is now to be run at Hoppegarten on May 10th, while it was hoped to run the Munich race, now possibly retitled Cologne Classic, at Cologne on May 3rd, together with the Carl Jaspers-Preis (ex-Gerling-Preis), the first major event of the season for older horses.
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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 3rd at least, so that it is extremely unlikely that the original plan to race at Hanover on May 1st and at Cologne, with two important group races, on May 3rd can be maintained.
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Covid-19 continues to spread all around the world, and virtually no area is now free of this disease and almost every country has placed severe restrictions on the movement of people, including going shopping or socializing. There are still new and increased numbers of infections and deaths reported every day, however there are signs in several European countries (including Germany) that the rate of increase has flattened and that the situation is slowly beginning to improve. The German government is due to discuss the current state of affairs next Wednesday and it seems quite likely that some restrictions will be eased, e.g. that some shops or small restaurants will be allowed to reopen.
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The coronavirus crisis continues to affect us all and in all our activities, including sport in general and horse racing in particular. Obviously the chances of any racing taking place anywhere in the world with spectators present are virtually nil at present, but racing is continuing behind closed doors in Japan, Hong Kong and some parts of Australia and the USA.
Trotting from Sweden (a country where life seems strangely to be going on as normal) is at the moment the only action in Europe, but there could be light at the end of the tunnel, as racing authorities in the U.K., France and also Germany have announced their intention of allowing racing to resume at the beginning of May, just in time for the Guineas Meeting at Newmarket. All April racing has been abandoned, including the Grand National meeting at Aintree and later in the month the Punchestown Festival, so that the 2019-20 N.H. season in the U.K. and Ireland is now effectively over.
weiterlesen »With the coronavirus continuing to spread all over the world, racing – in common with almost all other sports - has been suspended in most countries or only takes place behind closed doors or under very strict conditions. Football is by far the most popular sport in most countries, both in terms of the number of spectators and of media coverage, but racing comes second (at a distance) in many areas.
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The rapid spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Europe is causing major problems for all spectator sports, and racing is no exception. All racing in France and the U.K. has been suspended, while Ireland has imposed strict conditions with racing going on behind closed doors and not even the owners allowed to be present. In this country, the earliest possible date for racing to be resumed is April 19th, when the Frühjahrs-Meile at Düsseldorf, the first group race of the German season, will we hope be run behind closed doors. It must be hoped that the situation will be back to normal by May, when there is a full programme including several group races and classic trials, the popular Irish Race Day at Hoppegarten on the 10th, the first classic, the Mehl-Mülhens-Renen (2,000 Guineas) at Cologne on the 17th and the Baden-Baden Spring Meeting from the 21st to the 24th.
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Germany´s winter season ended last Sunday with the last meeting on the sand track at Dortmund until winter returns in December. The outstanding feature was clearly the victory of Gestüt Ebbesloh´s homebred Inaugural (Soldier Hollow) in the 3yo “maiden” (i.e. maidens on the all-weather, the first two to finish had both won on turf as 2yo´s last year). Inaugural had shown some smart form in 2019, including a fifth place in the Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen and was the clear favourite here; he was also Peter Schiergen´s first runner of the year in Germany, although the Cologne trainer had had a couple of winners at the St. Moritz meeting last month.
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We have to start this week´s column with an apology, as last week´s article failed to appear as a result of computer problems and the technical incompetence of your correspondent.
Admittedly we did not miss too much, as the racing scene remains very quiet in Germany with only low level Sunday cards on Dortmund´s sand track to keep us going at home. This Sunday´s meeting will be the last winter fixture of the year, and the following week “proper” racing resumes with a much stronger card at Cologne; the weather remains wet and windy, but spring is definitely coming.
weiterlesen »…kann aus technischen Gründen heute leider nicht erscheinen. Wir bitten dies nachzusehen.
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Things are still very quiet in German racing at the moment, with Dortmund´s Sunday meetings the only racing actually taking place until racing on turf resumes in mid-March. However there is plenty of racing going on, and some German trainers are taking advantage of the better prize-money on offer elsewhere. Dr. Andreas Bolte has sent his useful handicapper Fuego del Amor (Dream Ahead) to the Dubai Racing Carnival and he ran for the third time there, but ended once more unplaced.
weiterlesen »With very little happening at the moment in German racing – the foaling season is now in full swing and the covering season is also starting, but racing is limited to low class Sunday meetings on the sand track at Dortmund– it is time perhaps to continue last week´s theme of the success of German stallions in N.H. racing, and particular those by Monsun. Even as these lines are being written, a daughter of Getaway has won quite a decent race over hurdles in Fontainebleau, while half an hour earlier in the equivalent race for colts Gestüt Karlshof´s homebred Zuckerberg was just touched off after leading most of the way. Zuckerberg is by German Derby winner Kamsin, himself a son of another German Derby winner in Samum, who was Monsun´s first Group One winner way back in the year 2020.
weiterlesen »The last couple of years have been mainly disappointing from the point of view of the German racing industry, but one field in which German-breds continue to do surprisingly well is that of N.H. racing, and last week saw several notable successes over jumps in Ireland, the U.K. and France for horses either with German pedigrees or with a strong German element. It is only four years since the German-bred Don Cossack (Sholokhov) won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, generally regarded as the supreme race over fences, while the same year the Champion Hurdle – the equivalent championship race over sticks - went to Annie Power (Shirocco), who was indeed Irish-bred, but by a German sire, winner of the German Derby in 2004, and out of a mare from the Anna Paola family.
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