David Connolly-Smith

CRACK German three-year-old Sea The Moon puts his unbeaten record on the line in Sunday´s Longines Grosser Preis von Baden, when he will face 10 opponents, all of them trained in Germany.

Terrubi, a Group 2 winner in July in France when trained by Pascal Bary, is now with Andreas Wöhler, who supplemented him on Wednesday. He is one of two Irish-breds in the race, the other being Lucky Speed, who won last year´s German Derby but has not been very convincing since; he has in any case a German pedigree, being by Silvano out of a Monsun mare.

In theory Sea The Moon has to win this race; he is well clear on official ratings and is currently favourite for the Prix de l´Arc de Triomphe. The Baden-Baden race has often provided significant pointers to the Longchamp spectacular – Danedream won them both three years ago- and victory on Sunday would probably see him shorter further in the betting.

A Gestüt Görlsdorf homebred, the son of Sea The Stars is undoubtedly the best of the colts so far seen out by the Gilltown stallion, whose daughter Taghrooda is likely to be one of his serious opponents in the Arc. His dam Sanwa (Monsun) is a member of the most successful recent family in German racing, being an own sister to two winners of the Deutsches Derby and one of the Preis der Diana.

Sea The Moon, who will be ridden for the first time by Italian jockey Cristian Demuro, has certainly done nothing wrong so far, having won all his four races in good style, despite showing unmistakable signs of greenness.

He has not run since his impressive 11-lengths victory in the German Derby , and there have been rumours that all was not well; but his connections have emphatically denied these, although his trainer Markus Klug has admitted that there had been a “tiny problem”, long since sorted out. However Klug admits that his colt “will not be at 100% on Sunday, as he is being specially prepared for one race, and that is being run in four weeks’ time.”

It will be a major shock if he fails to win on Sunday. Terrubi, whose target is the Melbourne Cup, is one possible danger; the other four-year-olds in the field, notably Lucky Speed and Ivanhowe, must step up on the form they have shown so far this season.

The three-year-olds could be more of a problem, although it is hard to see why Lucky Lion, forecast to be second favourite, should reverse the Hamburg form, despite his subsequent Munich win over Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Noble Mission.

His trainer Andreas Löwe has another iron in the fire with Sirius, winner of the Grosser Preis von Berlin a month ago. With a couple of pacemakers in the field, there should be a good pace, which will certainly suit Sea The Moon and a comfortable success is the most likely outcome.

Card >> B36