HENKEL-PREIS DER

DIANA (GROUP 1)

STALL Ullmann’s homebred filly Well Timed ran out a most convincing winner of last Sunday´s 160th Henkel-Preis der Diana (German Oaks) at Düsseldorf.

Jockey Filip Minarik, who admitted to being very optimistic but a little nervous beforehand, rode a confident race, jumping the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor out from her outside draw and quickly settling her in second place behind local hope Come On City, who set a furious pace.

Come On City led by about four lengths down the far side, with Well Timed some three lengths ahead of Night Of England and the field thereafter well strung out.

Both Well Timed and Night Of England came to challenge Come On City when that runner began to weaken two furlongs out and it was Minarik’s mount who saw it out best, with Wonder Of Lips staying on best of the remainder in third.

Coolmore stallion Holy Roman Emperor has done very well with German mares and he was also scoring his second classic win this year after Ken Condon’s Romanised won the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

CLEAR FAVOURITE

Well Timed is trained by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Carvalho at the Ullmann family’s private training centre at Bergheim, west of Cologne. She was clear favourite here at 22-10, and after running unplaced on her only start at two, is now unbeaten in four starts this year.

Carvalho said afterwards: “She has shown very clearly that she is the best filly in Germany, now we want to know where we stand internationally; the Prix Vermeille is now likely to be her next race.”

Thanks to the strong pace set by Come On City, and with the ground lightning fast after a heatwave in recent weeks, the time of 2m 12.63sec was not surprisingly a race record.

handicappeR

Well Timed is clearly smart, although the official handicapper has only put her up to 110, and the Vermeille – in which she might meet the winners of the French, Irish and English Oaks – could be very informative.

Well Timed’s second dam, Wells Whisper, is a half-sister to Hernando and a full-sister to Johann Quatz; she was bought for the Ullmann family for 880,000 guineas at Tattersalls in 1993.

This did not look an inspired purchase until last week, in fact the family sold Wells Present, the dam of the latest Oaks winner, cheaply at Arqana last year after none of her first seven foals achieved anything noteworthy, but her eighth has made up for a lot of disappointments.

Of the remainder in the Henkel-Preis der Diana, Night Of England ran a gallant race in second and looks certain to win a good race before long, as does the third, Wonder Of Lips, who is remarkably still a maiden.

The two supplementary entries ran poorly; Sand Zabeel, who was actually top-rated coming into the race on her win in the Italian Oaks, finished eighth, and Come On City, running for the first time in the colours of Team Valor, finished only ninth after doing too much up front.

COURSE RECORD

That was not the only fast-run race at Düsseldorf, as the Markus Klug-trained Destino set a new course record for a mile and a half when winning the Group 3 Fritz Henkel Stiftung-Rennen, from Salve Del Rio, in 2m 24.07sec.

As Destino and Salve Del Rio had earlier finished second and third in the Group 2 Union-Rennen and then second and fourth in the Deutsches Derby, this was quite a boost to this season’s German three-year-old form.

The winner of those two races, Röttgen’s homebred Weltstar will probably be out next in the Grosser Preis von Baden in early September, but German Derby form will be put to the test sooner this Sunday at Hoppegarten, when Royal Youmzain, an unlucky third in the Derby after starting favourite, runs in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin against the Godolphin runner Best Solution.