THE winners of the Group 3 Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen for juveniles at Krefeld in 2019 and 2020 were subsequent Group 2 winners Wonderful Moon and Mythico.

Last year the race was won by Tunnes, and he has gone one better than that pair and won at Group 1 level. Now a five-time winner, he landed the Group 2 Deutsches St Leger on his way to capturing the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Bayer. Tunnes is a half-brother to no less a star than the 2021 Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso (Adlerflug), himself a new addition next year to the stallion ranks in Germany.

Tunnes has an interesting piece of inbreeding, being a grandson of Tertullian (Miswaki), while his third dam Turbaine (Trempolino) is the dam of Tertullian. Tunnes is one of two stakes performers for Tertullian’s Group 1 winning son Guiliani, and comes from his second crop, and that crop also includes the Group 3 winner Mountaha.

Guiliani has only had 38 runners, 17 of which have won.

Tunnes’ owner Holger Renz paid €38,000 for the colt at the BBAG September Yearling Sale, and now he has well and truly paid his way, with winnings of some £170,000. Tunnes is the fourth foal of his dam Tijuana (Toylsome), one of three winners, and the mare has a two-year-old full-sister and a yearling full-brother to the Arc winner.

Champions

The dam of Tunnes is a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Tusked Wings (Adlerflug), and to last year’s German-winning filly Tangut (Adlerflug) who was placed in the Group 3 Italian St Leger. She sold last December at Arqana to Westerberg for €640,000. Their dam Tucana (Acatenango) is a winning half-sister to the aforementioned German champion sprinter and champion sire Tertullian (Miswaki).

Allegretta (Lombard) is the group-placed fourth dam of Tunnes, but she has a close connection to a couple of Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winners. She is the dam of Urban Sea (Miswaki), the 1993 winner, and grandam of Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), the 2009 winner. She is also the grandam of none other than the multiple champion sire Galileo (Sadler’s Wells).