Preis von Europa (Group 1)

LAST Sunday’s Group 1 Preis von Europa at Cologne looked beforehand to be a highly interesting race, but in the event turned out to be a bit of a damp squib.

The race certainly lost some of its appeal when Manfred Ostermann, the owner of second favourite Laccario, easy winner of this year’s Deutsches Derby, suddenly decided to scratch him an hour before the race. This was due to Ostermann’s misgivings about the ground, especially after an earlier runner of his had pulled up lame.

His decision was, needless to say, highly controversial, especially as he was not himself present at the racecourse.

The last two years have been extremely difficult for German racecourses and their groundsmen as there has been a prolonged drought in most parts of the country.

The going at Cologne, where there had been very little rain since the spring, was very fast – the race was run in record time – and at the same time patchy, certainly not ideal, although also certainly no worse than it had been at Hamburg when Laccario won the Derby, nor at Baden-Baden, where he had finished third in the Grosser Preis.

Best horse

This should in no way detract from the performance of the winner, the Roger Charlton-trained Aspetar, who was clearly the best horse on the day and was probably value for more than the official winning distance of two and a half lengths.

Connections were also worried about the fast going, but need not have been, as he strode out well in the final stages to win as he pleased. He was according to the betting the least fancied of the three British-trained runners, but ran right up to his best form – indeed the handicapper has put him up 3lbs to 116 – while Godolphin’s Best Solution and Mark Johnston’s Communique never really got into the race and finished fifth and eighth respectively.

Andreas Wöhler, Laccario’s trainer, had another string to his bow and his Royal Youmzain made the running at a good pace.

The three-year-old filly Donjah, who started favourite following her smart effort in the Grosser Preis von Baden, was always close up, while Jason Watson had Aspetar well placed on the inside.

Lost shoe

Royal Youmzain dropped out early in the straight – it later transpired that he had torn off a shoe – and Donjah went on, looking briefly like the winner. But Aspetar was sitting on her tail and it was soon clear that he was going the better.

He led more than a furlong out and quickly put the race to bed. Donjah got tired in the final stages and was run out of it for second place by the other filly in the line-up, Amorella, who had won a Baden-Baden Group 2 last time out.

Colomano, who had been last for most of the way, ran on late to finish fourth; he is a most consistent performer but has repeatedly shown that he is not up to Group 1 class. As a result, the rating of the race is much lower than one might have expected and it is certainly a possibility that it will lose its Group 1 status.

Aspetar, who was gelded after his three-year-old career, is the best product so far of multiple Group 1 winner Al Kazeem, who was also trained by Charlton and whose stallion career has been interrupted by fertility problems.

He was bred by his owner, a member of Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family, and his main target now is HH The Amir’s Trophy at Doha in February. He could run a couple of times before then, quite possibly back in Germany, in our last Group 1 of the year, at Munich in early November.