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.
This is the time of year when classic trials are in the spotlight, and Germany is no exception. Last Monday we saw a good trial at Cologne for the German 1,000 Guineas (at Düsseldorf on May 26th, the German classics all being run several weeks later than the equivalent races in the U.K.).This was won in tremendous style by Team Valor´s Axana (Soldier Hollow), trained by Andreas Wöhler, winning this race for the fourth time in six years, and the trainer seems to have a very strong hand to play this season. Axana´s performance was certainly the best by a German three-year-old so far this year; this is also the opinion of the handicapper who has bumped her up by six kilos (almost a stone) to a GAG of 94(= international 108), making her currently the top-rated filly in Germany. She is also early favourite in betting on the German 1,000 Guineas, and second favourite for the Preis der Diana (Oaks) on August 4th, also at Düsseldorf.
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Last Sunday´s Düsseldorf meeting saw Germany´s first group race of the year, the Kalkmann Frühjahrs-Meile, which went as expected to the odds-on favourite Stormy Antarctic (Stormy Antlantic), trained in Upper Lambourn by Ed Walker and owned by Pak Kwan Siu, whose red and black colours are familiar to racegoers in Hong Kong. They are also familiar to racegoers in Germany as Stormy Antarctic won the Group Two Badener Meile last year and then finished an excellent runner-up to Benbatl (Dubawi) in the Group One Grosser Dallmayr-Preis, the highest-rated race in Germany in 2018. Both those races could be on his programme this year, and the trainer has stated that his main objective now is to win a Group One race with the six-year-old gelding, with the Munich race an obvious target.
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So, Brexit has been postponed until October, which means up to six more months of agony, as the hopeless and hapless U.K. government under the incompetent Theresa May tries to dig itself out of the hole caused by David Cameron´s disastrous referendum. However there is one item of good news: it was confirmed this week that the E.U. has agreed that the U.K. will in any case be granted “third country status” after Brexit regarding the free movement of live animals. At the moment the tripartite agreement between the U.K. France and Ireland regulates this, and third country status basically means the status quo will be maintained. This is of great importance to the U.K. racing and bloodstock industries and also especially to the Irish, as most Irish horses travel via England when coming to the mainland. By extension it can also only be positive for Germany.
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There have so far been only a handful of races for three-year-olds in Germany this year, and they have almost all been for maidens, but the pace is now beginning to hot up and there will be plenty of classic hopefuls making their seasonal appearances this month. That said, last Sunday´s race for three-year-old maidens at Cologne over 1850 metres looked extremely strong, and it looks certain that the first four home will all be involved in black type races before long; all four are entered in the IDEE 150th Deutsches Derby, to be run at Hamburg on July 7th,, as well as in other top races.
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Racing in Germany moves into a higher gear with the advent of spring. Last Sunday we had an informative meeting at Düsseldorf, with three races for three-year-olds featuring some interesting prospects for this year´s classics, and this Sunday there is a good card at Cologne, 20 miles up the Rhine, with the first black type race of the year.
weiterlesen »Some recent results from racecourses all over the world have a bearing on the German bloodstock scene. Last week´ s New Zealand Oaks in Trentham went to Sentimental Miss, to give her sire Reliable Man his first Group One winner. The grey son of Arc winner Dalakhani out of a daughter of the triple Oaks winner Fair Salinia is one of the very few European-bred horses to have won a top Group One race both in Europe (Prix du Jockey Club) and Australia (Queen Elizabeth II Stakes); another one of course is the Schlenderhan-bred (Our ) Ivanhowe (Soldier Hollow), winner of the Grosser Preis von Baden and Caulfield Cup among others. They both now stand at Niccolo Riva´s Haras d´Annebault in Normandy, for a fee of 9,000 euros and 4,500 respectively,
weiterlesen »As expected, there was a good international entry for the Group Two Oleander-Rennen in Hoppegarten on May 12th, Germany´s top race for stayers, including several from the U.K. There were also some U.K. entries for Cologne´s Carl Jaspers-Preis (ex-Gerling) a week earlier. Obviously any possible runners from the U.K. will depend on what happens in the British parliament and if the crazy catastrophe called Brexit goes ahead, and in what form. The EU is clearly getting fed up with the unbelievable incompetence of the British government, but it is essential that we have some agreement in place by the end of this month regarding the movement of horses (and much else besides!), otherwise we could be in a situation where it would be virtually impossible for horses trained in the U.K.to run in German races. We devoutly hope that this situation will not arise and that a solution can be found.
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This Sunday sees the final sand track fixture of the German winter season. Since last December we have had an unrelieved diet of mainly low level handicaps on the sand tracks at Neuss and Dortmund, always on a Sunday and usually starting at the unearthly hour of 10.50 a.m. This time is in order to keep French punters occupied – presumably after going to early morning mass - before the main action of the day starts at the Paris trotting track of Vincennes. The French PMU shows the German races on their Equidia channel, and the French betting turnover on these races is many, many times higher than the local punters stake. The average on track turnover at these meetings averages 20,000 euros, but once the turf season begins – at Krefeld on the Sunday of next week - we can expect a significant rise in betting as the top stables start to swing into action.
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This seems a very convenient week to look at the huge impact that German thoroughbreds, or at least those with German connections, have made on Australian racing in recent years. The anomaly of Australian racing is that the local breeders concentrate almost entirely on producing sprinters, but the country´s most valuable and iconic race is the Melbourne Cup over two miles. For a long time New Zealand breeders took advantage of this situation, and dominated the “race that stops a nation” for many decades, but since Dermot Weld stunned the locals by sending Vintage Crop (Rousillon) from Ireland to win the Melbourne Cup in 1993, and then followed up with Media Puzzle (Theatrical) in 2002, European-breds have held sway, and German owners and breeders have profited strongly from this trend.
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The German winter season, centred on the sand tracks at Neuss and Dortmund, continues for three more weeks. To be frank, these races, generally run on Sunday at early lunch time, are not inspiring and the vast majority of races run are low grade handicaps or poor conditions races, so that most racegoers are now eagerly anticipating the start of the turf season.
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Two weeks ago we looked at the leading German 2yo´s of 2018, their handicap ratings and their prospects for this year. Obviously the four group races for this age group were the decisive factor in the ratings; they were Baden-Baden´s Zukunftsrennen, won by Quest The Moon (Sea The Moon), Cologne´s Preis des Winterfavoriten, won by Noble Moon (Sea The Moon) in a photo-finish from Django Freeman (Campanologist), the Preis der Winterkönigin at Baden-Baden won by Whispering Angel (Soldier Hollow) and the Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen at Krefeld, won by Donjah (Teofilo).
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Several items of news this week, most of them bad:
Brexit: Theresa May is once again trying to renegotiate the deal with the EU, even though the EU has repeatedly stated that this is not on the table. The chance of a “no deal Brexit” has become more likely, which would have catastrophic effects, many of which are still impossible to predict. This could certainly cause problems for racing and breeding, although not as much for Germany as for France and Ireland; if the “tripartite agreement” still holds up, and the U.K. is granted “third country status” regarding the movement of live animals, this would be of huge benefit and most of the problems could be avoided..
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