soldier hollow Photo: Marc Ruehl
Soldier Hollow: the son of In The Wings stands at Gestϋt Auenquelle at a feee of €30,000. He started out at just €6,500 in 2008
Solidering on up
Liz Price chats to owner-breeder Helmet von Finck and trainer Andre Fabre about the talented Soldier Hollow, such a consistent sourch of quality middle-distance performers
H
ELMUT VON FINCK bought Soldier Hollow as a yearling in the 2001 Tattersalls October sales with the idea of one day running him in the Deutsches Derby. Sent to Cologne to be trained by Peter Schiergen, Soldier Hollow won on his debut and the following year enjoyed an equally promising start to the Classic season. At that point, everything was going as planned and his owner had every right to start dreaming about the Derby.
88
www.internationalthoroughbred.net
However, on Soldier Hollow’s next start in the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennan (German 2,000 Guineas), where he was sent off the hot favourite, he produced a rather lacklustre run in fourth. The result was considered too bad to be true and shortly after it was discovered that he was suffering from colitis. The Deutches Derby dream was over and Soldier Hollow was left fighting for his life. Many anxious moments followed, but Soldier Hollow showed his trademark fighting spirit and slowly but surely recovered.
It was nearly a year before von Finck would see the son of In The Wings run again, but when he finally did return to the competition at the age of four, he showed that he had lost none of his ability. Underestandably, he was bit rusty on his first couple of starts, but the winning thread was soon picked up again. It was the moment he was stepped up to Group 1 company in the Premio Roma that he revealed himself as the champion his owner always thought he was. Over the next three years Soldier Hollow won three more Group 1 races and will always be remembered as the last horse to beat Manduro, the world’s top-rated racehorse of 2007, after going neck to neck to the line with the Godolphin runner in one of the most thrilling finishes of the Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp. Von Finck, who got involved in horseracing more than 30 years ago when he chanced upon a race meeting in his hometown of Munich, was rightfully proud of his little horse, who might not have had the chance to prove himself in the German Derby but who was bursting with courage, power and obviously had a heart as big as a lion.
