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Planning ahead
The German stallion roster lost two of its best last year, but it continues to outperform opportunity, and the nation’s studs are committed to the future, writes Jocelyn de Moubray
IT WAS A YEAR of great achievement for German breeding – another winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe courtesy of Torquator Tasso, while a string of horses sold for high-prices in Britain and France. Yet the year also underlined the fragility of the whole enterprise.
In 2021, Germany lost two of its best proven sires Adlerflug and Lord Of England, the former as only a 17-year-old and just as he was establishing himself as one of Europe’s very best sires.
Soldier Hollow, now 22, is reaching the end of his stud career. It means Germany’s stallion capital will have to be rebuilt.
This will have to be done with fewer mares available in the country and an annual foal crop which has now dipped below 800.
At the beginning of the 21st century, at the time when Monsun was establishing his place among Europe’s top stallions, Germany was still producing 1,400 foals per annum.
Today Germany produces around just five per cent of Europe’s annual production, and yet the country has bred three of the 19 winners of the Arc in the 21st century, Hurricane Run, Danedream and Torquator Tasso, while Waldgeist, winner in 2019, was bred in Britain by a partnership between Gestüt Ammerland and Newsells Park Stud from a daughter of Monsun with a German pedigree.
German families and racehorses were also amongst the leaders in the sales ring in 2021. The Jacobs family’s sale of Newsells Park led to three daughters of Waldgeist’s dam Waldlerche being offered at auction.
Her Dubawi yearling filly made 1,250,000gns at Tattersalls, while Waldlied, her Group 2-winning daughter fetched 2,200,000gns, and Waldgeist’s full-sister Wildfeder made €2,050,000.
Wildfeder was one of the stars of a hugely successful Arqana December sale, but the other top lots also included three German-bred and owned fillies in Tickle Me Green, Tangut and Deia, who made €800,000, €640,000 and €600,000.
It is hard to imagine there will be many German fillies offered at the Tattersalls December Sale next year after such strong results in Deauville.
Grocer Jack, a German-bred and raced son of Oasis Dream, was one of the top lots at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale making 700,000gns.
Rebuild underway
The numbers may be small but there is clearly still plenty of quality among the German-bred horses. Over the last ten years three studs have dominated the German breeders’ table – Gestüt Etzean, the champion in 2021 having produced the Preis der Diana winner Palmas as well as the champion two-year-old Sea Bay, while Gestüt Röttgen and Gestüt Fährhof have won seven titles between them.
These three studs are all standing a new Group 1-winning sire from a top family for 2022, showing commitment to the future of breeding in Germany.
Alson is at Fährhof, Windstoss at Röttgen and Japan at Etzean.
Bred and raced by Gestüt Schlenderhan, Alson is the best son of leading sire Areion and is The numbers out of the Galileo mare Assisi and so may be small is a half-brother to international but there is Group winner Ancient Spirit from clearly still one of his breeder’s best families. plenty of quality Alson’s second dam is the Preis among the der Diana winner Amarette and the German-bred family has also produced Aviso, horses a German 2,000 Guineas winner, as well as the Melbourne Cup winner Almandin.
Areion, based at Gestüt Etzean, is the oldest active sire in Europe at 27 years old.
The son of Big Shuffle started out as a cheap and little-used sire and his 18 crops of racing age include only a total of 500 foals. However, 81 of these are Group or stakes performers with 48 Group or stakes winners. It gives him 16 per cent black-type performers to foals and 9.6 per cent black-type winners to foals, third place amongst active European sires behind only Dubawi and Frankel.
Windstoss: the dual Group 1 winner and multiple Group 1-placed son of Shirocco starts out at Gestüt Röttgen at a fee of €4,000 Photo courtesy of Gestüt Röttgen
Alson was one of the best two-year-olds in Europe in 2019 when trained at Schlenderhan by Jean Pierre Carvalho with four wins and a second place from five starts.
A winner on his debut over 6f in June he went on to win a conditions race at Clairefontaine, a Group 3 at Baden-Baden, and the Group 1 Criterium International at ParisLongchamp. He also finished second to Victor Ludorum in the Group 1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardère.
At three, Alson was trained by André Fabre and finished third, again behind Victor Ludorum, in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains, run during the COVID year at Deauville in June.
He made five more starts for Fabre at three and four, but never returned to his best despite winning a Listed race and being Group placed.
Areion’s progeny’s average winning distance is 7.95f, despite being out of a Galileo mare who is herself out of a Monsun mare.
Röttgen gains new sire Windstoss
Windstoss retires to Röttgen with a racing record of four wins and 11 places from 29 starts at two, three, four, five, six and seven.
A promising winner over a mile at two, Windstoss was at his peak as a three-yearold when he won the Deutsches Derby and the Group 1 Europa Preis against older horses. He was rated 118 by the Racing Post, a mark which puts him among the best ten middle-distance three-year-olds in Europe.
At four, he finished an excellent third to Cracksman in the Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom on very sticky ground.
It was a severe test and Windstoss, like some of the others in the field, never quite came back to his very best afterwards.
However, Windstoss’s enthusiasm and soundness was never in doubt and the son of Shirocco put up a remarkable sequence of 19 consecutive runs in Group races finishing in the first four 18 times over four seasons at three, four, five and six.
Windstoss, Germany’s champion threeyear-old colt, is a half brother to the Derby winner and the champion three-year-old colt Weltstar, a son of Soldier Hollow, who stands at the Haras de Longechaux in France.
His second dam Well Known was a champion two-year-old filly in Germany and also produced the Group 1 winner Well Made, while his third dam Well Proved won the German 1,000 Guineas and was also champion three-year-old filly.
Northern Dancer appears only once in Windstoss’s pedigree and he has no Sadler’s Wells at all and so will be obvious cross for all of the mares by one of the successful sons of In The Wings to have stood in Germany.
Röttgen bred two of Shirocco’s best Flat performers in Windstoss and the multiple Group winner Wild Coco, both are out of Sternkoenig mares, which gives inbreeding 3x3 to the German Triple Crown winner and Monsun’s sire Konigsstuhl.
Japan heads to Etzean
Japan is a son of Galileo and the Danehill mare Shastye, and he retires to Etzean for a partnership between the stud, Fährhof and Coolmore in whose colours he initially raced after being bought as a yearling from Newsells Park for 1.7 million guineas.
Japan is the best of four top-class siblings by Galileo that Shastye has produced to date, and she also has an unraced three-year-old filly Skylark in training with Aidan O’Brien. She was bought for 3.4 million guineas as a yearling.
The other siblings are the Group 1 winner Mogul, Secret Gesture, who won the Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes but was stood down by the stewards, and the two-time Group 1-placed Sir Issac Newton.
Shastye herself was a Listed winner and is a half-sister to the Arc winner Sagamix out of Sageneca, a Group 2 winner in France.
-Japan was the joint top-rated three-yea0old in Europe in 2019 and had an almost faultless record at two and three winning five of his nine starts, including the Group 2 Beresford Stakes at two, and the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris and Juddmonte International (G1) and the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at three. He also finished third in the Derby and fourth in the Arc behind Waldgeist, Enable and Sottsass.
Kept in training at four and five, Japan was never quite as good again but he did win two more Group races and was Group 1 placed in England and the US.
Since then Etzean has stood Dashing Blade’s best son Lord Of England, as well as Sholokhov and, for the last few years, Areion.
The stud’s roster of sires for 2022 is completed by Amaron, a son of Shamardal whose oldest progeny were four-year-olds in 2021.
Amaron has been well supported and, while he has not had a break-out horse as yet, his three-year-olds in 2021 included four winners of valuable sales races in Atze, New Wizard, Quality Time and Night Ocean.
His 2021 two-year-old crop is headed by Eliano and Zack Halo, who both looked useful when breaking their maiden at Deauville and Chantilly respectively.
Soldier Hollow: progeny suit racing in France
Soldier Hollow is clearly the best stallion in Germany and one of the best in Europe – Gestüt Auenquelle’s son of In The Wings had Group winners in England, France and Germany in 2021 and currently lies fifth among active European sires by percentage black-type horses to foals, behind only Dubawi, Frankel, Areion and Sea The Stars.
His progeny has proven to be well suited to racing in France in recent years and with an average winning distance of 1m1f they tend to be at their best from 7f to 10f rather than 1m4f horses. He is, however, now 22 and now in the twilight of his stallion career.
Other German-based sires to produce Group winners in 2021 include Isfahan at Gestüt Ohlerweiherof, Guiliani at Gestüt Erftmuhle and Rottgen’s pair, Reliable Man and Protectionist.
His first crop were three-year-olds of 2021 and included seven winners from 28 runners headed by the Derby winner Sisfahan, who also gave Torquator Tasso a real race in the Grosser Preis von Baden.
Isfahan may have a few quieter seasons with some smaller crops to come, but will be well supported in 2022 by all of the leading German studs.
Guiliani is a Schlenderhan-bred by Terullian out of the Group 1 winner Guadeloupe, who was a leading miler in Germany and a Group 1 winner over 1m2f as a four-year-old.
His small first crop were three-year-olds in 2021 and included some useful winners, while his larger second crop is headed by the current ante-post favourite for the 2022 Deutsches Derby – Tunnes is a Groupwinning half-brother to Torquator Tasso.
Protectionist, like Isfahan, had his first three-year-olds in 2021 and the son of Monsun produced nine winners from 23 runners, including the Group winners Lambo and Amazing Grace, who took two of the early Classic trials in impressive fashion.
Neither quite went on to realise the promise they showed then, but this was clearly a promising start nevertheless.
Protectionist’s second crop includes the Lyon winner No More Bolero, who is another prominent in the Derby betting for 2022.
The son of Dalakhani’s biggest crop to date are three-year-olds of 2022 and his 68 foals of 2019 include the Group horses Ardakan and Ariolo, both prominent in the Derby betting, as well as some useful winners in France headed by the Chantilly winner Lerma.
The German-based sires who have yet to have runners include Best Solution, the Group 1-winning son of Kodiac whose full-brother El Bodegon won the Group 1 Criterium de Saint Cloud in 2021.
Both are out of Kingmambo mares, which is starting to look like a real positive for stallions following the success of others out of Kingmambo mares such as Camelot, Zelzal, Ulysses, Ruler Of The World and National Defense.
Best Solution moves to Gestüt Lunzen after two years at Auenquelle.
Gestüt Erftmuhle’s Waldpfad will stand his second year in 2022. The son of Shamardal comes from the same ‘W’ family as Waldgeist and was the winner of seven races.
He was at his best as a sprinter at five when he won Group races at Hamburg and Newbury and finished third in the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock.
Isfahan’s son Sisfahan, who is from the sire’s first crop of three-year-olds, after winning the Group 1 Deutsches Derby. The colt backed up that form with a second placing behind Torquator Tasso in the Grosser Preis von Baden
