THE form of this year’s German Derby had looked very shaky, but it was given a big boost last Sunday in Cologne when Hamburg victor Windstoss, trained by Markus Klug and ridden with great confidence by Adrie de Vries, ran out a very easy winner of the Group 1 Preis von Europa. He became the first three-year-old this century to bring off this particular double.

It was a messy race and de Vries held Windstoss at the back of the field as there was a lot of jockeying for position up front. He made rapid progress on the wide outside as the field came into the straight, led two out and went on to score by four lengths from the filly Son Macia. running her best ever race and just holding the winner’s stable companion Colomano for second place.

Colomano was the unlucky horse of the race and would almost certainly have finished a clear second with a better run.

Klug stated afterwards stated that both Windstoss and Colomano are to stay in training for next year and that neither is likely to run again in 2017.

Windstoss, a Gestüt Röttgen homebred, is yet another smart flat performer by Shirocco, one of Monsun’s best sons who himself won the Deutsches Derby in 2004, and who now covers National Hunt mares at Glenview Stud in Co. Cork.

It is amazing to think that Windstoss was sent to the BBAG Yearling Sale in 2015 and bought in for only €16,000. Röttgen boss Dr. Gunter Paul later stated that he would have been sold for €25,000. He has now won well over 20 times that amount in prize money and he looks as if he will be even better at four, so there could be more still to come.

The Klug/de Vries team, who will be represented by Dschingis Secret in the Arc tomorrow, had a good meeting and won four races over the two days.

Their two two-year-old winners – Rock My Love, a Holy Roman Emperor filly who won the Listed Winterkönigin-Trial on Saturday, and Erasmus, a Röttgen colt by Reliable Man out of Preis der Diana (German Oaks) winner Enora – were very impressive and both look very promising candidates for next season’s German classics.

CHANTILLY TOMORROW

Klug also runs his unbeaten Reliable Man filly Narella on Sunday; she has been sold to Teruya Yoshida and has been supplemented for the Marcel Boussac, where she will run for the last time for Klug before transferring to Roger Varian at Newmarket.

German runners have a good record at the Arc meeting, and readers are advised to also keep an eye on Iquitos (Hans-Jürgen Gröschel/Andrasch Starke) in the Arc – on German form he has about the same ability as Dschinghis Secret and is four times the price. Elsewhere, Peter Schiergen’s two fillies in the Prix de l’Opera – Preis der Diana winner Lacazar (Starke) and Baden-Baden winner Ashiana (de Vries) – are worth a second look.