2008

David Conolly-Smith, who died this week, reported on the German Derby 15 years ago

THERE were some familiar names on the scoresheet after Kamsin’s success in the German Derby at Hamburg last Sunday.

Owner Stall Blankenese was winning the race for the third time this century, as was the trainer Peter Schiergen, while he was the fifth winner for jockey Andrasch Starke. The trio had united in 2006 for the success of Schiaparelli.

Franz-Gunther von Gaertner is in poor health and had to miss the race. He is the majority owner of Blankenese, named after the smart suburb of Hamburg in which he lives, and reportedly owns 85% of Kamsin.

The race was run in a thunderstorm, which started as the runners started to parade and ended promptly as they passed the finishing line. It is hard to say if this affected the result, but Kamsin acts well on the soft, so for him it was no disadvantage. It was feared beforehand that there would be no pace, and this proved to be the case, with all the jockeys seemingly under orders to hold up their mounts.

Starke, to his great credit, ignored the orders and grabbed the initiative after a furlong, and led from then on, with his stable companion Ostland (Adrie de Vries) always a close second. The pace was still slow, but in the downpour a stronger pace could have been suicidal. The time of 2 minutes 39.29 seconds was the slowest for many years, although the ground was not nearly as bad as it has been in some recent runnings.

Kamsin and Ostland led into the straight, with Starke always seeking the best ground, well away from the rail. The winner had the race in safe keeping from two furlongs out. Favourite Liang Kay came with a late run, but failed to stay and weakened into fourth, with Ostland staying on well to keep second. British challenger Top Lock was also prominent throughout and finished well to take third on the line.

Aidan O’Brien’s King Of Rome, who was slowly away, stayed on at one pace to finish sixth of the 16 runners, beaten about six lengths. Among several runners who disappointed were Schlenderhan’s pair Walzertraum and Agapanthus, who filled the last two places. French raider Soum (eighth) never showed, and the fancied Akiem (13th) was another disappointment.

Kamsin may have had conditions in his favour, and certainly benefited from an excellent tactical ride by Starke, but he was also the best horse on the day. He has been given a provisional rating of 116, which seems about right.

Stable confidence was not high before the race, and the fact that he started as third favourite was due more to local patriotism. However, there were excuses for his previous odds-on flop at Munich where he was probably suffering from a mild colic.

Derby winners

Kamsin was bred by Gestut Karlshof, also the breeders of Blankenese’s first two German Derby winners, the own-brothers Samum and Schiaparelli.

He is a member of the second crop of Samum, one of the best sons of Monsun, and is easily his best runner so far. What we have seen so far of the Samums suggests that they stay well and go best with some cut in the ground. Another of his progeny, the unbeaten filly Baila Me, won the main trial for the German Oaks, although is apparently unlikely to run in that race.

The Derby winner is the fourth foal and third winner out of Kapitol, by Winged Love, who was a group winner over 12 furlongs. There is a two-year-old own-brother named Kohinoor, also owned by Stall Blankenese, a yearling colt also by Samum and a filly foal by Dubawi. Kapitol’s dam Karlshorst was a daughter of Surumu, the most influential German stallion of the post-war era.

This is the ‘K’ family which was developed by Gestut Zoppenbroich, and whose most prominent representative was Konigsstuhl, Triple Crown winner and sire of Monsun, whose dam was an own-sister to Kamsin’s fourth dam.

So far no plans have been made for Kamsin, but he has apparently come out of the Derby well and is certainly capable of acquitting himself with credit in the top mile and a half races to come, especially when the ground is on the easy side.

[Kamsin is now at Annshoon Stud, where he has just completed his third season. Originally at stud in Germany, he also spent a few seasons in France.

He went on to win the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden and the Group 1 Rheinland-Pokal Stadtsparkasse Kolnbonn. He has sired stakes winners on the flat and over jumps]

First jumps success for Townend

2008

PAUL Townend, one of the leading flat apprentices of last season, notched up the first jumping success of his career when Spiriton ran out a ready winner of the Seamus Murphy Balbriggan Retail Park Hurdle at Bellewstown.

The 9/2 chance wasn’t winning out of turn, having filled the runner-up spot on two of his previous six outings over hurdles, and he was going strongly when moving into the front rank at the third-last.

The six-year-old took charge after the next and soon built up a clear advantage. Window Of Hope narrowed the deficit on the run-in, but there was still three lengths between the front pair at the finish.

‘‘I only have the horse three weeks and all the credit should go to Gerry Cully, who did a lot of the donkey work with him,’’ said trainer Paul Cashman of the Michael Smiddy-owned winner. ‘‘He’s rated 60 on the flat, so we might go for a handicap before running him in a winners of one at Galway.

‘‘Paul gave him a superb ride. The key to the horse was getting him settled and he did exactly that. He’s going to go a long way. Paul’s father gave me a good few point-to-point winners so I’m delighted that he was on board tonight.’’

Al Kazeem much too good

2013

AL KAZEEM, very much the coming force in top-class middle-distance events, enhanced his reputation still further in the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday.

Starting at 15/8 favourite, the Deer’s homebred tracked old rival Mukhadram and Mars before taking over from the former just inside the final furlong. He then strode clear for James Doyle to beat Declaration Of War by two lengths, but hung right and squeezed Mukhadram, causing him to lose all momentum and lose second place.

Al Kazeem was winning his third Group 1 event in a row, and there are grounds for saying he is the best middle-distance horse in Europe. The Prince Of Wales’s Stakes followed by the Coral-Eclipse is a rare double, most recently achieved by Mtoto in 1987 and 1988.

Roger Charlton won the 1990 Epsom Derby with Quest For Fame and the Prix du Jockey-Club with Sanglamore soon after taking over from Jeremy Tree at Beckhampton, but has no hesitation in rating Al Kazeem the best he has ever trained.

Charlton has always wanted to win the Arc, a race he prizes above any other, so it was not that surprising to learn that he and Deer agreed that giving the King George a miss was the way forward. “I think he deserves a break and then we’ll decide if it’s the Juddmonte International or the Irish Champion Stakes. I’d have thought the Irish Champion is better timing, and then it would be great to run in the Arc.” Looking much further ahead, Deer expressed the hope that the horse would stand somewhere in Europe, but denied reports that a stud deal had been agreed with interested parties in Japan.

Stood down

Doyle has enjoyed a hugely successful campaign. However, he was stood down for five days for careless riding and it was just as well the rules precluded disqualification. “When Ryan (Moore, on Mars) moved out I had to kick on,” he explained. “I got to the front a little sooner than I wanted and he just idled.”

For sure, Mukhadram could not have won, though there is little doubt he would have finished second and trainer William Haggas was too upset to speak for a few minutes before regaining his usual calm. “I’m not saying the winner should have been thrown out - he was the best horse in the race - but he’s cost us second,” he said. “It’s no-one’s fault but it’s very frustrating.”

Mukhadram was none the worse for the bump he took but, looking to the future, Haggas was inclined to let the King George go and concentrate on a Group 2, possibly the Sky Bet York Stakes.

[Al Kazeem had a rocky start to his stud career, was returned to racing, and went on to win the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup two years later. He returned to stand at the Deer’s Oakgrove Stud and is now a Group 1 sire]