ON the whole, 2018 was a disappointing year for the German racing and breeding industry. There were indeed some major international successes for German-breds – Almandin in Australia, A Raving Beauty in USA, Pakistan Star in Hong Kong – but at home the results were not so positive, and in particular the classic generation produced no new stars.

At the beginning of this decade we had a German Arc de Triomphe winner, followed by two “King George” winners, but those days now seem like the distant past.

The only major foreign successes for German-trained runners this year were in Italy, which with all due respect is now in the second tire of racing nations. There was not a single group race success for a German-trained runner in the UK or France – the first time for many years that this has happened.

There are many, many German runners these days in France with about 300 winners in 2018, but apart from a couple of listed events and big handicaps, these were almost all in low grade races.

The attractions of the French races are obvious: prize money is much better, there is a full programme of races over every distance and at every level, and it is just as easy for a trainer in the major centres of Cologne or Baden-Baden to reach the tracks in the Paris area, let alone those in Eastern France closer to the German border, as it is to get to Hamburg, Munich or Berlin.

At the same time, there are fewer foreign raiders in the main German races, as the prize money is by international standards relatively low. However, there were in 2018 three German Group 1 successes and three more Group 2 victories for runners trained in the UK.

Fortunately for the Germans, all the winners subsequently boosted the form. Mark Johnston’s Nyaleti set the ball rolling with an easy win in the German 1000 Guineas; she finished the season as runner-up in the Premio Lydia Tesio after good placings in the Falmouth Stakes and the QE II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.

Ed Walker’s Stormy Antarctic won the Badener Meile and later ran well in top mile races at Goodwood and Woodbine, as well as finishing an excellent fourth to Roaring Lion at Ascot.

That German sprinters are below the top international standards is no secret, but it was nevertheless a shock for the locals when horses trained in the UK, Austria (!) and France took the first three places in the Group 2 Goldene Peitsche.

DOMINATED

Godolphin-owned runners trained by Saeed bin Suroor dominated the German summer, with Benbatl taking the Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis, the top 10-furlong race, from Stormy Antarctic, and then Best Solution winning the Grosser Preis at both Berlin and Baden-Baden.

They both ended the season racing in Australia, where Benbatl won the Group 1 Ladbrokes Stakes and then ran an excellent second to Winx in the Cox Plate, while Best Solution won the Group 1 Caulfield Cup and then finished a respectable eighth in the Melbourne Cup, both times under top-weight.

These results certainly helped to confirm the German form and will ensure that the ratings of the top races are well up to par.

OLDER HORSE

Clearly the best older horse in Germany was the six-year-old Iquitos, who ran consistently well in all the top races and ended the season with a deserved victory in the Grosser Preis von Bayern. He has now been retired to stud, as has his main rival, the five-year-old Dschinghis Secret.

However, the four-year-olds on the whole failed to fire, while the classic crop was a disaster area. There was quite a lot of bad luck with injuries – for example to the two ante-post favourites for the German Derby, Erasmus and Alounak – but the former’s owner-breeder Gestüt Röttgen still won the Derby, for the second year in succession, with Weltstar, a half-brother to their 2017 winner Windstoss.

However, Weltstar himself was soon after injured and has not run since, while those Derby runners that have run have failed to boost the form significantly; indeed several of them have been sold to go jumping.

The situation with the fillies was even more dire.

The Ullmann stable’s Well Timed was clear favourite for the Preis der Diana and duly won in good style, but she failed to build on that later and those that finished behind here made next to no impact afterwards.

The same connections took the 2000 Guineas with Ancient Spirit, clearly the top German miler of 2018 but since sold to Australia.

LOOKING AHEAD

There is hope for the future however in the 2018 two-year-olds, who look a very promising bunch. The juvenile programme here is far less demanding than is the case in the UK, France or Ireland, and very few two-year-olds run more than three times, but we saw some very promising prospects for next season.

I would especially mention Noble Moon and Quest The Moon, winners of group races at Cologne and Baden-Baden respectively, and both from the first crop of 2014 German Derby winner Sea The Moon, who stands at Lanwades Stud in Newmarket but has covered many German mares and has made an excellent start.

The Teofilo filly Donjah also made a very positive impression when easily winning both her starts, and despite her gender is early favourite for the 2019 Deutsches Derby.

CHAMPION TRAINER and Jockey

Markus Klug enjoyed a tremendous season, and is champion trainer for the fourth time in five years; he won 11 group races, including Germany’s richest race, the Deutsches Derby.

Andreas Wöhler and Peter Schiergen also did well, and Jean-Pierre Carvalho-trained classic winners Ancient Spirit and Well Timed, but the trainer who made a real impact was 36-year-old Henk Grewe, who sent out 89 winners (including 50 in France) from his Cologne yard.

Among them his first Group 1 winner, Khan, who took the Preis von Europa on the heavy going he needs.

Otherwise it was not a good year for horses with a preference for cut in the ground, as the very long dry spell made life difficult for trainers and also ground staff.

Andrasch Starke was champion jockey for the ninth time, while Gestüt Röttgen was both leading owner and breeder for the second year running.