The English page - Spring is here

Spring is here, and with it better weather and high class racing, both over jumps and on the flat. Last week we had the Cheltenham N.H. Festival, the climax of the N.H. season as far as the British and Irish are concerned, but we also had the first group race of the year on the flat as well as the start of the German turf season. This weekend we have the first German black type race of the year, as well as the start of the flat in England – traditionally at Doncaster – and rather more importantly – the Dubai World Cup meeting.

The Cheltenham meeting last week must be regarded as a major success, with huge crowds (280,000 over the 4 days), and popular and impressive winners of the main events. It was not all sunshine however, and there were a lot of complaints, particularly in regard to the exorbitant prices charged for food and drink. The tracks belongs to the Jockey Club and the meeting is extremely profitable; entry prices are also very high, and racegoers will spend at least five hours on the course, so refreshments are a necessity, but prices should be reasonable.

However on the sporting level there was little to complain about. The Irish, as has usually been the case in recent years, dominated the meeting. Willie Mullins trained no fewer than ten winners, an astonishing performance, but the top headlines belonged to trainer Henry de Bromhead and his stable jockey Rachael Blackmore, who took the two main events, the Champion Hurdle with Honeysuckle (Sulamani) and the Gold Cup with A Plus Tard (Kapgarde). Honeysuckle was repeating her 2021 success, while A Plus Tard finished runner-up to his stable companion Minella Indo (Beat Hollow) last year, but emphatically reversed the form this time around. Both these winners are 8yo´s, relatively young by N.H. standards, and could be with us for some time yet.

While A Plus Tard is French-bred, Honeysuckle, now unbeaten after 15 starts under rules, is out of the German mare First Royal (Lando),who we remember running well at Baden-Baden in the days when that track still staged races over hurdles. German breeding had quite a successful week. There were 26 sires who had winners at the meeting. Only two scored twice – Jeremy (Danehill Dancer) and Fame and Glory (Montjeu), both sadly now dead. Fame and Glory is a grandson of 1985 German 1,000 Guineas winner Grimpola (Windwurf), who was sold at the end of her racing career to Lord Howard de Walden and had considerable success in the U.K. as a broodmare.

Of the 24 sires who each had one winner at Cheltenham, Shirocco and Network are both German-bred sons of Monsun, while Sholokhov and Doyen, both by Sadler´s Wells and still going strong at studs in Ireland, both started their stud careers in Germany. In addition, two more stallion sons of Monsun, Aizavoski and Maxios, had horses placed at Cheltenham. More stallion sons of Monsun who have had winners in the last few days include Schiaparelli, Arcadio, Gentlewave and Lauro. In the current list of successful sires by prize-money in British and Irish N.H. racing, Yeats – another son of Sadler´s Wells- is in first place, followed by Fame and Glory, and then two sons of Monsun, Getaway and Shirocco.  The last-named has also had Group One winners on the flat and was the subject of a very positive article in the Racing Post this week by our esteemed colleague Martin Stevens. 

We still have three major N.H. meetings to come, at Aintree (the Grand National is on April 9^th), the Punchestown Festival at the end of April and the French Easter meeting at Auteuil. However the flat season is now becoming ever more significant.

The first group race of the season was the Prix Exbury last Saturday at Saint Cloud. The winner Pretty Tiger (Sea The Moon) was bred by the German-owned Chevotal de la Hauquerie and hails from a family that had great success in Germany a few years back for Horst Rapp. The second dam Tres Rapide (Anabaa Blue) was an own sister to Tres Blue, runner-up to Lucky Speed in the 2012 Deutsches Derby and subsequently winner of the Grand Prix de Deauville. Their dam Tres Ravi was a daughter of Monsun, as was the dam of Sanwa, herself the dam of Sea The.Moon (Sea The Stars). That one stands at the Lanwades Stud in Newmarket, but was of course a German-bred and won the German Derby in spectacular fashion in 2014. It would certainly not be an exaggeration to call Pretty Tiger, also a Group Two winner last year, as being German on both sides of his pedigree.

There have also been German-trained winners on the flat in Italy this week: both Röttgen-bred Sean (Excelebration) and  Etzean-bred Walkin' on the Sun (Lord Of England) scored in Milan, admittedly at a relatively low level. Both are trained by Karoly Kerekes in Munich and owned by Kurt Fekonja.

Also this week, and back over jumps, Sel Jem won the prestigious Prix Troytown at Auteuil and is now to be aimed at the “Grand Steeple”, the French equivalent of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The 5yo is by Masked Marvel, who frequently figures in this column. He stands at the Haras d la Tuilierie and seems to be a sire with a big future in N.H. racing. The 2011 Doncaster St. Leger winner is despite his name a member of the celebrated Ravensberg “W” family and closely related to German Derby winner Waldpark, now himself a very promising N.H. sire, and Arc winner Waldgeist.

Back to the flat now, and this weekend we have racing of interest at three tracks, Düsseldorf in Germany, Doncaster in England and Meydan in Dubai. Lincoln used to open the English season but that track closed in 1964 and Doncaster took over. However the big betting race is still called the Lincoln Handicap and is the first leg of the Spring Double (the Grand National being the second). There are also two listed races as well as the Brocklesby Stakes, the first race of the year in England for 2yos.

Düsseldorf stages the first black type race of the year in Germany, the Grand Prix Aufgalopp over 2100 metres for older horses. We have not seen much of leading trainer Henk Grewe in recent weeks but he has excellent chances of winning this race, where he has entered three, all with good prospects. Perhaps Virginia Storm (Soldier Hollow), from a top Auenquelle family could be the pick.

And in Dubai we have the Dubai World Cup, until recently the most valuable horse race in the world. It has an extremely strong field, headed by US-trained Life is Good (Into Mischief); he is the highest-rated horse in the world and should in theory win. But we hope to see Grocer Jack (Oasis Dream), previously trained in Cologne by Waldemar Hickst for breeder Christoph Berglar, run well. On the undercard we also hope to see good performances from Alenquer (Adlerflug) and Kaspar (Pivotal); the three mentioned are all German-bred and started their careers here, but have since been sold. We shall see next week how they fared in Dubai.

David Conolly-Smith