THE 2014 season in Germany can be split neatly into two halves - the first part of the season, featuring the classics, and dominated by the outstanding three-year-old Sea The Moon, his trainer Markus Klug and owner/breeder Gestüt Görlsdorf.

However from mid-August on, it was the unexpected return of the older generations, and in particular the four-year-olds.

Sea The Moon, the best colt from the first crop of Gilltown stallion Sea The Stars, had a huge reputation before winning his first race, a maiden at Cologne in September 2013, and was immediately promoted to favourite for the 2014 Deutsches Derby.

For once the hype was justified. He won his next two starts easily and then the Derby itself by a staggering 11 lengths.

Christophe Soumillon praised the colt in the most fulsome terms.

“This is a horse for the King George and the Arc,” he stated straight after the race. “If he makes normal progress he will be a true champion.”

Signs of a nagging problem were however there in the form of his pronounced tendency to hang. This was evident at Cologne and even more so in the Derby, when Soumillon shrewdly allowed him to drift right across the course, ending on the stands’ rail.

He was so far ahead that there was no risk involved, and this made his victory appear even more spectacular.

He was promoted to ante-post favourite for the Arc, an astonishing vote of confidence in a colt that had only run four times and only in Germany.

There is no doubt that he was an exceptional three-year-old and the best winner of the Deutsches Derby for many a long year.

The Derby form received a huge boost when runner-up Lucky Lion, a colt by High Chaparral who had already won the German 2000 Guineas (Mehl-Mülhens-Rennen) in convincing style, reappeared three weeks later to win Munich’s Grosser Dallmayr-Preis, Germany’s top middle distance race, defeating none other than subsequent Champions Stakes winner Noble Mission.

Klug and Görlsdorf also seemed to have a good chance of completing the German Derby-Oaks double with Wunder who started a warm favourite for the Preis der Diana in early August.

However, luck turned against them here, as Wunder was badly hampered just as she was beginning her challenge and finally finished fifth.

Defying her odds of almost 26/1, Etzean’s homebred Feodora, trained by Andreas Wöhler, ran out an easy winner here after getting a dream run up the rail.

She later ran two good races in the Prix de l’Opera and Grosser Preis von Bayern and was in retrospect, clearly the best horse in the field.

A week later the action moved to Hoppegarten and the Grosser Preis von Berlin. This track has enjoyed a tremendous renaissance since being taken over in 2008 by Gerhard Schöningh.

The big race is also the first occasion when the three-year-olds meet the top older horses, and it was a member of the younger generation, Sirius, trained like Lucky Lion by Andreas Löwe, who came out on top.

MOON SHOCK

The acid test came four weeks later when Sea The Moon started at odds-on for the Grosser Preis von Baden, still Germany’s most prestigious event.

Rumours had been flying about regarding his well-being and trainer Markus Klug admitted before the race that he had had a minor problem and would not be at 100% as the Arc was the main target. However, it was still quite a shock to see him cut down so effortlessly by the four-year-old Ivanhowe.

The winner, a Schlenderhan homebred and half-brother to top hurdler Irving, had always been highly regarded but had disappointed a couple of times, notably when hot favourite for the 2013 German Derby.

However, he showed his true worth here, even if the favourite was below par, with reliable yardsticks behind to confirm the value of the form.

Sea The Moon was shortly afterwards reported injured and retired. He is to stand at Lanwades Stud near Newmarket for £15,000 and, as the first son of Sea The Stars to stand as a stallion, has attracted huge interest and support.

He was undoubtedly a very high class performer and his dam is a member of the most successful German family of this century, so expectations are high indeed.

Three weeks later, another four-year-old Empoli, trained locally by Peter Schiergen, won the Preis von Europa, with the three-year-olds in the field all well beaten.

A combination of very fast ground and an outside draw probably put paid to Ivanhowe’s chances before he even entered the stalls.

However he was quick to recover his best form, easily defeating a strong field at Munich for the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Bayern and then running highly respectably when sixth in the Japan Cup.

WÖHLER IN WONDERLAND

Earl Of Tinsdal and Feodora, two Group 1 winners trained by Andreas Wöhler, took third and fourth at Munich, to give the form a solid look, but the trainer himself was not there - he had bigger fish to fry. He was in Australia preparing Protectionist for the Melbourne Cup, and five long months of planning were rewarded when the four-year-old son of Monsun came with a devastating late run under a super-cool Ryan Moore to win “the race that stops a nation” by four lengths. It was the first ever German-trained winner of this iconic event and a second successive winner for the late, great Monsun.

It had been hard to imagine in July that Sea The Moon could be upstaged as the hero of the 2014 German racing season, but Protectionist’s victory was for me the highlight of the year, and Andreas Wöhler’s handling of him the outstanding feat.

This was yet another major international triumph for the relatively tiny German bloodstock industry.