STAMINA won the day for Germany’s oldest private stud, the Oppenheim/Ullmann family’s Gestüt Schlenderhan, as their homebred In Swoop (Adlerflug) stayed on best of all to give the stud their 19th winner as owner and 20th as breeder in the Group 1 IDEE 151st Deutsches Derby at Hamburg last Sunday.

In Swoop was one of their horses transferred to France at the end of last season after their private training centre at Bergheim was closed and their main trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho moved to Mülheim.

In Swoop is now trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, currently enjoying a great run. The German Derby is an early closing race, so it was Carvalho who entered him well over a year ago, so clearly he was well regarded from the start, even though he never ran at two.

He made his belated debut in mid-May, easily winning a maiden at Lyon-Parilly against modest opposition.

He started favourite that day so was obviously expected to run well and he was then pitched in the deep end for his second start, the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe, a top French Derby trial, also run this year at Lyon. There he finished a close third after showing unmistakable signs of greenness.

The winner there, Fabrice Chappet’s Gold Trip, hardly boosted the form when finishing 11th in the Prix du Jockey Club. Beaten just over seven lengths, but In Swoop has clearly made tremendous progress since and was much more the finished article this time; he was also the pick of the paddock.

Strong pace

Ronan Thomas kept him towards the rear of the large field as the supplemented frontrunner Kellehan set a strong pace. But this time Kellehan was never able to establish an easy lead, as he was closely accompanied by 170/1 long shot Prince Oliver.

The field was well strung out as they swung into the straight, with Dr Christoph Berglar’s Grocer Jack the only of the fancied runners to be found in the leading group, and he quickly went on two furlongs out as Kellehan and Prince Oliver weakened.

Grocer Jack’s moment in the sun was short-lived, as by now the hold-up runners were charging into the race, with the favourite Wonderful Moon coming on the wide outside with a dangerous-looking run.

This however quickly petered out, as suspicions that he might not stay proved justified.

Instead, it was In Swoop and Jack Mitchell’s mount Torquator Tasso who finished best of all, and they swept by Grocer Jack in the final furlong with In Swoop scoring by three parts of a length and the same distance back to Grocer Jack.

Despite the fast pace, the time of the race war relatively slow and ground conditions, which were on the yielding side, took their toll. With several of the leading fancies not certain to stay the trip, it was clear that stamina would be decisive, and that is a quality In Swoop has in spades.

Both he and the runner-up are sons of Adlerflug (In The Wings), who won the Derby for Schlenderhan in 2007 and has established himself as a leading sire of mile-and-a-half performers in Germany, with Grosser Preis von Baden winner Iquitos and In Swoop’s full-brother Ito as notable examples.

It was thus a great result for Schlenderhan, as Adlerflug now stands there (in Monsun’s old box, no less), although the stallion’s main owner is historic Gestüt Harzburg; Harzburg is currently being renovated, hence Adlerflug’s temporary move back to his birthplace.

There had been a lot of rain in midweek, but the track had mainly dried out by Sunday, however was still certainly riding slow, as can be seen by the times.

The general feeling before the race was that it was a substandard field and that is possibly borne out by the result, although we have too little form to go on – and too little foreign competition because of the convoluted season so far to make any definite judgement.

That certainly seems to be the impression of the German handicapper who put In Swoop on GAG 96 (equal to an international rating of 112), the lowest rating of a German Derby winner for many years.

Average

It has since been slightly adjusted upwards by 1lb (to GAG 96.5/ 113), but still below the historic average for the race.

Obviously we shall have to wait and see how the German three-year-olds fare when they are opposed by the top older horses before any objective verdict can be reached.

One positive feature is the fact that Adlerflug is the sire of the first two; his offspring are often late developers (these two certainly are) and usually improve with age; this is also the case with Soldier Hollow, another top German stallion by In The Wings.

As In Swoop is now trained in Chantilly, we are unlikely to see much more of him in Germany and Graffard has indicated that the Grand Prix de Paris is now his main target.

He is also entered in the Arc and it could well be that by the beginning of October we shall be looking at the German Derby result in a much more positive light.

One more interesting feature of the race; in Germany it is the tradition after group races for the national anthem of the winner to be played.

However, after the victory of French-trained In Swoop, it was not La Marseillaise that we heard, but Amhran na Bhfiann, presumably because In Swoop was listed on the racecard with the (IRE) suffix.

He was indeed foaled in Ireland, where his dam Iota (Tiger Hill) – who had won the Preis der Diana (German Oaks) in 2005, a year when it was also run in Hamburg – was visiting Australia.

The resultant filly, named Iffy, is now in training with Gavin Hernon, also in France, but of course with a double Coolmore connection.