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.