IT was a quiet week in Ireland and Britain on the horse racing front, but there were fireworks elsewhere, nowhere more so than at Baden-Baden, the German course which staged the Group 1 Longines Grosser Preis Von Baden on Sunday.

German form is not the strongest in the book, but it is far from the weakest also. This race was won by Danedream and Novellist in 2012 and 2013 on the back of their respective wins in Ascot’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, while Godolphin’s very smart Best Solution held off Defoe in the race last year.