IT was billed as “the hottest duel of the year” but of course it did not work out like that.

The field for Germany’s top race, the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden, had shrunk to four by the time the runners entered the starting stalls and the two main protagonists were Gestüt Auenquelle’s five-year-old Torquator Tasso, 2021 winner of the Arc, and Gestüt Park Wiedingen’s three-year-old Sammarco, winner of his last three races including the German Derby.