Winter Warmers: France and Germany

[Wandering Eyes]

In the last of a three-part series, Tom Frary looks back at the standout French- and German-trained juveniles of last season and considers who will be most prominent during their key Classic season.

With just three 2-year-olds rated above 110 in the recently-released European Classifications, France should be worried, right? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly in August, when the country’s juveniles failed to get a look-in when it mattered during Deauville’s month-long festival, there seemed cause for pondering a potential crisis. Is a record of seven wins from the country’s 20 pattern races for juveniles good enough? There were two Group 1 races which stayed at home and they were garnered by fillies who caused upsets in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. Nobody really saw Lily’s Candle (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}) and Wonderment (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) coming on either occasion, so there is hope that France has some lurkers for 2019. It is a nation that often creeps up on you as the season wears on and there are plenty of works-in-progress to focus on.

It was with a tinge of shock and disappointment that we watched ‘TDN Rising Star’ Spirit of Brittany (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) so readily brushed aside in Deauville’s G3 Prix Six Perfections as the August festival offered early portents of what was to follow. Having looked such a bright prospect when scoring at Saint-Cloud and Clairefontaine, Al Shaqab’s homebred was only third behind Godolphin’s stalwart Beyond Reason (Ire) (Australia {GB}) there. Not seen again, the relative of Keltos (Fr) (Kendor {Fr}) and Krataios (Fr) (Sabrehill) could yet prove to be cut from the same cloth and remains one of Jean-Claude Rouget’s Classic contenders.

It was during Deauville that Rouget unveiled another Gerard Augustin-Normand delight in the filly Commes (Fr) by the nation’s increasingly-important sire Le Havre (Ire), and she earned ‘TDN Rising Star’ status with an authoritative success in a mile maiden. Undone next time by Lady Bamford’s Suphala (Fr) (Frankel {GB}), a granddaughter of Sophisticat (Storm Cat) from the Andre Fabre stable, at Chantilly in September, some of the initial gloss was rubbed off but it could be Fabre has something special in that €650,000 Arqana Deauville August graduate. On the same card that Commes arrived, there was another standout ‘TDN Rising Star’ performance from George Strawbridge’s colt Lone Peak (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}). After a storming seven-length debut triumph in Normandy, we could not believe our eyes when the relative of Halfway To Heaven (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) and the Galileo (Ire) pair Magical (Ire) and Rhododendron (Ire) was beaten five lengths next time.

That came at the hands of another Fabre project in Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), who had already won by six lengths on his prior start in the Ballymore Thoroughbred colours at Chantilly. He returned to that venue to destroy Lone Peak in the year’s most undeniable ‘TDN Rising Star’ tagging, and when he was seen next the relative of Planteur (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) was able to uphold French pride by seeing off the subsequent G1 Racing Post Trophy hero Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in Newmarket’s G3 Autumn S. Now part-owned by Godolphin, the imposing bay–who has received more than a small infusion of Wildenstein gold in his blood–is certain to stay a mile and a quarter, but how much further is open to conjecture. He heads the domestic 2-year-olds on 114 pounds in the classifications and that is 12 pounds shy of the generation’s true master Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), but he is a lovely colt who should be able to narrow that margin this term.

Interestingly, Persian King’s sole defeat had come on debut when he came off second-best to the Freddy Head-trained Anodor (Fr) (Anodin {Ire}). That chestnut was snapped up by Jean-Louis Bouchard and he rewarded the investment with success in ParisLongchamp’s G3 Prix des Chenes, but he came up short when third to a better horse in Godolphin’s Royal Marine (Ire) (Raven’s Pass) when third in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere back at that circuit on Arc day.

Shadwell’s ‘TDN Rising Star’ Tasleya (GB) (Frankel {GB}), out of the smart Mashoora (Ire) (Barathea {Ire}), is another Rouget runner who looked very strong on debut before flopping behind Beyond Reason and her classy and over-achieving compatriot Lagrandecatherine (Fr) (Pedro the Great) in a solid renewal of the G2 Prix du Calvados also during Deauville August. She must be better than that, while in Alain de Royer-Dupre’s always deep stable lies a potential class act in Ecurie des Charmes and Gilles Forien’s Mythic (Fr) (Camelot {GB}). Off the mark by eight lengths on her sole start at Angers in mid-November, she is a relative of the G1 Epsom Derby hero Wings of Eagles (Fr) (Pour Moi {Ire}) and is in the hands of a master trainer so if she turns up in a Classic trial, take serious note.

More dark horses to follow include His Highness The Aga Khan’s impressive ParisLongchamp maiden winner Shendam (Fr) (Charm Spirit {Ire}), a son of the staying highweight Shemima (GB) (Dalakhani {Ire}) from the Mikel Delzangles stable. He is a grandson of the G1 Prix de Diane heroine Shemaka (Ire) (Nishapour {Fr}), which links him to the G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Shakeel (Fr) (Dalakhani {Ire}) and the G1 Prix du Jockey Club runner-up Shamkiyr (Fr) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) as well as Shahrastani, so it would be no surprise to see him set off on the route to the Chantilly Classic.

Al Shaqab’s Tuned (GB) (Toronado {Ire}) looks another potential Rouget gem after the daughter of the celebrated Zagora (Fr) (Green Tune) took a Deauville maiden in late October, while Juddmonte’s Obligate (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is also one to keep an eye on. Successful for Pascal Bary at Saint-Cloud in November, he is out of an unraced half-sister to Banks Hill (GB) (Danehill) and all her illustrious kin and where that clan is concerned the sky is always the limit.

In Germany, Eckhard Sauren’s homebred colt Noble Moon (Ger) (Sea the Moon {Ger}) earned the bragging rights when beating Django Freeman (Ger) (Campanologist) in the prestigious G3 Preis des Winterfavoriten and he is a G1 Deutsches Derby prospect to the core. He currently leads the race to provide a first-crop success in that Hamburg Classic for his talented sire, but also by Sea the Moon is Stall Salzburg’s highly promising Quest the Moon (Ger), who took Baden-Baden’s G3 Zukunftsrennen before going down to Mission Boy (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) in the G2 Gran Criterium at the San Siro. Darius Racing’s filly Donjah (Ger) (Teofilo {Ire}) is as exciting as anything among her sex, having spreadeagled the opposition in Krefeld’s G3 Herzog Von Ratibor-Rennen and Henk Grewe knows what to do with a smart prospect.

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