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[
Updated on 31August, 2001 ]
NOT so long ago, British
trainers would view German racing as an opportunity for some
easy pickings. Now things have changed.
The emphatic victory of
Silvano in the Arlington Million, the third leg of the Emirates
World Series. earlier this month was another example that
German-trained horses are now a force to be reckoned with
on the world stage.
Trainer Andreas Wohler
and his Austrian jockey Andreas Suborics had already won the
Singapore Cup plus the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong
with the colt before arriving in Chicago but it's fair to
say the locals underestimated their threat, just as British
punters did with German mare Proudwings when she won at Newmarket's
July meeting.
It's not surprising. Never
before had a German horse won a Grade One race in America.
But having had our tails kicked we'll be wary in future. Silvano
must now be regarded as a leading candidate to land the $1million
Emirates World Series.
He's remained in the States
to contest the Man O'War Stakes at Belmont on September 8
but, after that, his trainer will be clocking up more air
miles as he prepares his charge for the Australia's Carlton
Draught Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, Melbourne, in October
and the Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin in December, legs eight and
12 of the series respectively.
His chances will be enhanced
if his half-brother Sabiango can capitalise on home advantage
in leg four, the £550,000 UAE Grosser Preis Von Baden,
on Sunday.
It looks a highly competitive
race on Sunday with the Michael Jarvis-trained Italian Derby
winner Morshdi and Sir Michael Stoute's Little Rock will provide
solid opposition to the home team.
But it is the German horses
who look his most potent threat and the locals who flock to
Baden-Baden for this carnival meeting will be hoping that
they can cheer home another home-trained hope as they did
with Samum 12 months ago.
Sabiango, who beat German
Derby winner Boreal when landing a Group One race at Cologne
last time, looks the No 1 hope but Wohler may also saddle
Paolini, a winner of two Group races in Italy this season.
Baden-Baden, with its
flat fair left-handed track. Trainer Ian Balding and owner
Paul Mellon dominated the Grosser Preis Von Baden in the early
1980s, winning it with Glint of Gold (1982), Diamond Shoal
(1983) and Gold And Ivory (1985).
Next week could prove
pivotal to the outcome of the Emirates World Series. Galileo
do the same when he lines up for his re-match with Fantastic
Light in Leg Five, the Ireland The Food Island Irish Champion
Stakes at Leopardstown.
That run will be viewed
with great interest from this side of the Atlantic as his
Breeders' Cup clash with Point Given looms into view. His
Travers Stakes victory on Saturday and spotted Demi O'Byrne,
a key figure in Galileo's Coolmore team, getting a closer
look at their adversary.
He can only have been
impressed. The giant colt, nicknamed the Big Red Train, may
have looked below par on his previous run but he'd had a hoof
problem and his win in the Belmont Stakes took its toll.
That race is the only
serious dirt contest run over one and a half miles in the
U.S. and, even though he won it well, it was bound to take
plenty out of him. Back to 10 furlongs in the Travers, he
looked awesome. His clash with Europe's champion at the end
of October should have them queuing at the gates.
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