THIS month has seen some rather depressing results from the German point of view, and the nadir was reached last Sunday at Cologne, when the seven British and Irish raiders occupied the first seven places in the Group 2 Mehl-Mülhens-Rennen (German 2000 Guineas), although to be fair the three German-trained runners were only beaten about six lengths in a bunched finish.

The winner, Fox Champion, continued the good run of King Power Racing and benefited from an excellent ride by Oisin Murphy; he made all the running, but set a false pace and quickened up in the straight to win the sprint for home. There were still eight horses with a chance at the distance, but Fox Champion was not stopping and kept on really well to hold off the late challenges of Mark Johnston’s Arctic Sound and Tom Dascombe’s Great Scot by a neck and the same.

Fox Champion is trained by Richard Hannon jnr, and Murphy was very complimentary despite the narrow margin: “He has improved with every run and I think he could be a Royal Ascot horse.”

Fozzy Stack’s Wargrave finished sixth under Jamie Spencer after having every chance a furlong out. He could not improve his position, although he was only three lengths behind the winner at the line. However, it was still an Irish victory, as Fox Champion is by Kodiac and was bred by Con Marnane. He has changed hands three times, and after selling for 75,000gns as a foal at Tattersalls, then fetched 260,000gns at Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale and then 420,000gns when sold to his present connections at Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up.

Great Scot started favourite following his ninth place in the Newmarket version, and jockey Richard Kingscote felt that he very little room when making his move on the stands rail, but generally the feeling was that the winner was the best horse on the day.

Having now won four of his five starts, and runner-up on his debut, Fox Champion is a three-year-old on the upgrade and has potential for further improvement.

GERMAN classic action now moves down the Rhine to Düsseldorf, where the local 1000 Guineas will be run tomorrow.

At the time of writing it seems that there will be three British challengers headed by Charlie Appleby’s La Pelosa, while Mark Johnston and Tom Dascombe return with Main Edition and Iconic Choice respectively. Trainers Markus Klug, with four runners, and Andreas Wöhler, with three, will try to keep the race at home; Wöhler’s Axana, owned by Team Valor, looks the best of them judging on what we have seen so far.

KEEP On Fly, an Irish-bred son of Rip Van Winkle, won the Group 2 Derby Italiano at Capannelle in Rome last Sunday.

Trained by Alduino Botti, the chesnut colt won by a short-neck with Cristian Demuro on board.

There was British success earlier on the card when Frankie Dettori partnered the Ed Walker-trained Stormy Antarctic to win the Group 2 Premio Presidente della Repubblica.