127TH LONGINES

GROSSER PREIS VON

BERLIN (GROUP 1)

GODOLPHIN must be feeling a bit frustrated with their attempts to win a top German race this season. For a third successive Sunday, they fielded a strong challenge for a Group 1 race, this time Hoppegarten’s Grosser Preis von Berlin over 2400 metres, but each time they have had to be satisfied with a place – in fact two of them last Sunday.

Charlie Appleby’s Hawkbill, with James Doyle deputising for the injured William Buick, and Saeed bin Suroor’s Racing History (Gerald Mossé) finished second and third behind Dschingis Secret (Markus Klug/Adrie de Vries).

Dschingis Secret, a strapping four-year-old by Soldier Hollow, had already easily won two Group 2s this season and was certainly not winning out of turn. Hawkbill, sweating up quite badly, as is apparently usual with him, soon led and set a steady pace with the other Godolphin runner Racing History racing in second.

NICE RHYTHM

Dschingis Secret, very keen in the early stages, was soon settled into a nice rhythm by de Vries and was racing on the inside in third. Once the straight was reached, it was soon clear that the finish would only concern this trio, and with Racing History weakening from two out and possibly needing the race after a long layoff, it was left to Hawkbill and Dschingis Secret to fight it out.

Hawkbill kept on gamely but Dschingis Secret was not to be denied; he drew level at the distance, went ahead inside the final furlong and asserted in the final stages to win by a length. Racing History just held third, three and a half lengths back, from Colomano, the best of the three three-year-olds in the field.

Another three-year-old, Instigator, finished well, after a poor start, for fifth and the other two runners were never in contention.

This was undoubtedly a good performance by the winner, who beat two decent yardsticks fair and square, and the handicapper has reacted by putting him up to a GAG rating of 100 (equals 120 on the international scale). It will be remembered that the 2016 winner of this race, Protectionist, was also given the same rating.

The logical race for Dschingis Secret would normally be the Grosser Preis von Baden, but if he has a chink in his armour it is his strong preference for right-handed tracks, and Dschingis Secret has run well below his best form in three races at left-handed Baden-Baden.

Connections are likely to go now for the Prix Foy and then, if that goes well, the Arc. He could well meet his old rival Iquitos there, and neither of these tough performers would look out of place in the Arc field, which, with the shining exception of Enable, could well be a substandard affair this year.