TURFDONNA was a surprise winner of last Sunday’s 157th running of the Henkel-Preis der Diana (German Oaks) at Düsseldorf, paying almost 16/1.

It was the third classic success of the 2015 German season for trainer Andreas Wöhler, who can count himself unlucky not to have had a clean sweep as his two main candidates (and hot favourites) for the German Derby both had to be scratched shortly before the race after setbacks.

It was the second successive win in the race for Wöhler with an outsider, and like last year’s heroine Feodora (25/1), it was with a filly who had only been in the stable for a short period of time.

Turfdonna was bred by Gestüt Auenquelle and was originally trained by Roland Dzubasz at Hoppegarten.

After she won on her debut at her local track at the end of April, she was sold to Australian Bloodstock and transferred to Wöhler.

For him she finished fifth in the Diana-Trial at Hoppegarten and then third in the Almased-Cup at Hamburg, the two main trials for the Diana, but each time she was well behind fillies who were in last Sunday’s line-up.

IRISH CONNECTIONS

Wöhler has a large number of international owners in his Ravensberg stable and he won last year’s Melbourne Cup with Protectionist in the same colours - although for a different set of owners. This winning syndicate was represented at Düsseldorf by Seamus and Karen McPeake - as the name suggests with an Irish background - and they had in fact been racing at Galway the previous day.

Another Irish connection is the fact that Turfdonna is by Doyen, who stood for three years at Auenquelle. One of the best sons of Sadler’s Wells, Doyen was the European champion racehorse in 2004 after winning the King George for Godolphin.

A beautifully-bred and extremely good-looking horse, Doyen started his stud career at Darley but was then sent to Germany and then, still owned by Darley, to the Sunnyhill Stud in Co Kildare to cover National Hunt mares.

Turfdonna is from his third German crop and is his first Group 1 winner, but he sired plenty of useful performers during his stay in Germany, including recent Group 2 winner Wild Chief and also Group 1-placed and multiple winner Vif Monsieur.

SUNNYHILL STUD

Doyen is now in his fourth year at Sunnyhill Stud, where he covered 160 mares this year at a fee of €3,000. “Obviously we are delighted,” says Sunnyhill’s Michael Hickey, “and this classic win is a great boost to us all. We are very happy indeed with him, and he reminds me a lot of Old Vic, another son of Sadler’s Wells who stood here. In fact I think that Doyen imparts more speed to his progeny and he has all the makings of a top NH stallion.”

DAM’S SIDE

On his dam’s side, Turfdonna comes from a family that has shone for several German breeders in recent years. His dam Turfaue is an own-sister to Italian Group 1 winner Turfrose, while his third dam Thekla was from an old and well-established Waldfried family.

She was the dam of Turfkönig, Auenquelle’s first big winner, as well as Tryphosa, winner of the German 1000 Guineas and third in the Prix de Diane for Gestüt Burg Eberstein (of Danedream fame).

Wöhler’s stable jockey Eduardo Pedroza always had Turfdonna close up as Let’s Dance made the running at a good clip at Düsseldorf. She went on a furlong out and was always holding the late charge of Nightflower, with Amona, bred by Joe Hernon, keeping on well for third - so the first three are all by Irish-based sires.

The Irish connection is even closer in the case of Nightflower, as her owner-breeder Jürgen Imm (Stall Nizza) keeps most of his mares in Ireland, as was explained here after the victory of his homebred Nutan in the Deutsches Derby a month ago.

NUTAN’S TARGET

Jürgen Imm has had tremendous success with this family. Nightflower’s dam Night Of Magic won the Italian Oaks, while she is an own-sister to the dam of not only Nutan but also Nymphea, who won the Grosser Preis von Berlin in 2013.

That race, to be run at Hoppegarten this Sunday, is now the target for Nutan on his first post-Derby appearance; he faces strong opposition from the top four-year-olds Ito and Sirius, last year’s winner, as well as Wöhler’s Australian-owned Singing, while Luca Cumani’s Second Step looks a dangerous raider from Newmarket.