THE year 2017 was not a great year for German racing. In recent years, German-bred, trained and owned horses have won the Arc, the King George (twice), the Ganay and the Melbourne Cup.

In 2017, the major international successes came in Turkey, when the four-year-old Wonnemond, trained in Düsseldorf by Sascha Smcrzek, won the Topkapi Trophy, and in New York, when the five-year-old Red Cardinal, trained by Andreas Wöhler but Irish-bred and an import from Britain, won the Belmont Gold Cup.

It was hoped that Red Cardinal could win a second Melbourne Cup for his connections, but, disadvantaged by a bad draw, he could only finish 11th, while Wonnemond finished last in a French Group 2 on his only subsequent start.

OLDER HORSES

Older horses dominated the German season and the classic crop was on the whole a major disappointment. Gestüt Röttgen’s homebred Windstoss was clearly the best of his generation. The son of Shirocco, who had himself won the German Derby back in 2004 but now covers mainly National Hunt mares at the Co Cork-based Glenview Stud, was trained by Markus Klug at Röttgen.

He showed a good turn of foot to also win the German Derby at Hamburg in early July, and later won another Group 1 at Cologne (against relatively weak opposition). However, in between he had been put in his place at Baden-Baden when only fourth in the Grosser Preis.

DERBY FORM

On the whole the German Derby form did not work out, while the local equivalent of the 2000 Guineas went to Poetic Dream, trained by Wöhler but Irish-bred and later sold to Australia for €900,000 at the Arc sale.

The 1000 Guineas was won by British-bred Unforgetable Filly, trained in Newmarket by Hugo Palmer and who finished last on her two subsequent outings. The Preis der Diana (Oaks) was won by Ina Zimmermann’s homebred Lacazar, trained by Peter Schiergen. However, the best horse in the field was probably Godolphin’s Wuheida, who could only finish third at Düsseldorf but later won the Prix de l’Opera with Lacazar only ninth.

The older horses were much more reliable. The two best milers were the above-mentioned Wonnemond and the lightly-raced seven-year-old Pas de Deux, but the real stars were the mile and a half performers: the four-year-old Dschingis Secret and the five-year-olds Guignol and Iquitos.

They met repeatedly, with Guignol twice beating Iquitos at Baden-Baden and then narrowly defeating him again with Dschingis Secret a close third in the best race of the German season, the Grosser Preis von Bayern at Munich in November.

Dschingis Secret had earlier beaten them both at Hamburg and also showed good form when winning the Grosser Preis von Berlin and then the Prix Foy. All three were tough and consistent Group 1 performers, but came up short – although far from disgraced – when running against the real international elite. Dschingis Secret and Iquitos were sixth and seventh in the Arc, and Guignol and Iquitos ninth and 15th in the Japan Cup.