THE DEUTSCHES DERBY is always one of the most joyous events of the European racing year. Run in Hamburg at the beginning of July, the event has all the essential ingredients for a compelling sporting spectacle. 

This year was a particularly special occasion and whether you were there or were one of the many, thanks to the support of the World Pool following on television, it was impossible not to smile watching the sheer joy of Hochkönig’s connections, his trainer Yasmin Almenrader, jockey Nina Baltromei and with them a large proportion of the crowd and Germany’s racing professionals.

The race always attracts a large competitive field, more often than not there are between 18 and 20 runners. 

Only rarely are there short-priced favourites, champions win or are placed in the race from time to time but, in Germany, where two-year-old racing means little and most horses take time and distance to reach their peak, it is rare for the top horses to be revealed before the Derby itself. 

For instance, Lando and Torquator Tasso, second to In Swoop in 2020, both started at more than 20-1. 

There has been no major development of the racecourse in Hamburg for decades, there are no corporate boxes and the infield, where the paddock and the weighing room are, is filled with temporary tented bars and restaurants, and yet on Derby day and many of the other days of the meeting, there is a large enthusiastic crowd. 

Major breeders such as Gestüt Schlenderhan, Gestüt Ammerland,
Gestüt Ittlingen, Gestüt Fahrhof,
Gestüt Rottgen, Helmet von Finck, Gestüt Karslhof and Jurgen Imm have won more than once over the last 40 years, as has Darius Racing and Lars Baumgarten’s syndicate Liberty Racing, but the race has also been won by one or two horse owners such as Hochkönig’s Stall Cloverleaf. 

And, whoever the winner is, there is never any doubt for those watching that winning the Deutsches Derby is the dream which fills the idle moments of everyone involved in German racing and breeding. 

Not every year is the winner of the Derby a top horse, but every year it is a huge moment for all of those involved, the owner, the trainer, the breeder and the jockey; and every year their joy and excitement shines out of the television coverage. 

The first six home had all shown good form beforehand and, in what was a relatively slowly run race, Hochkönig and the pair who dead-heated for fourth, Path Of Soldier and Enzian, came from a long way off the pace. 

The final 400m was run in 23.1sec, or +13 per cent on the race average, and so Hochkönig showed a real turn of foot to make up the 3l or 4l he was behind Convergent at the top of the straight. 

The son of Polish Vulcano, who was bred by the racecourse photographers Marc and Gabi Rühl, has looked a high-class colt since stepping up to 2200m or further. 

Convergent, who had, of course, only previously been beaten by the Derby horses Lambourn and Lazy Griff, travelled well behind the leaders throughout the race and looked more or less sure to win until the final strides. 

Lazio, alongside Convergent for most of the race, was just out-speeded in the final 100m, but held on for third turning the tables on Path Of Soldier, who had beaten him narrowly in one of the Derby trials. 

Lazio, a son of Make Believe, has only disappointed when trying a slowly run French Group race. 

The two, who could turn the tables on the winner in Baden-Baden, are Path Of Soldier, who would have preferred a stronger pace, and Eckhard Sauren’s Enzian, who, on only his third career start and despite being taken wide coming out of the home turn, finished best of all. 

The son of Zarak had been sick after disappointing in the Union Rennen after looking like a high-class prospect when making a winning debut at Hanover.

Difficult to pick the top German filly

If the German three-year-old colts look to be an excellent group it is hard to pick out top-class middle-distance fillies and the Diana looks like an open race. 

The Berlin trial winner Lady Charlotte was only ninth in the Derby and Hamburg’s Diana Trial was won by the Ispahan filly Nyra, who was breaking her maiden on her sixth start. 

Several German-trained fillies have impressed over shorter distances, including the Almenrader-trained 2,000 Guineas winner Matilda. 

The daughter of Soldier Hollow is now with Francis-Henri Graffard and will race in the colours of Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm.

There is also the German 1,000 Guineas winner Lady Ilze, who ran respectably in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes, and Helmut von Finck’s Soldier Hollow filly Santagada. She won her third Group race when defeating the Henri Alex Pantall-trained Idla Rossa over a mile in Hamburg. 

The Schiergen-trained Santagada is entered in the Diana and, if she can stay the 2200m, she looks the most likely winner at this stage. 

Soldier Hollow, who died at the beginning of the 2024 breeding season, never received the support from outside Germany that his consistent success deserved. 

His older horses this year include Tamfana, the Group 2 winner Augustus and Egina, a dual Listed winner this year. 

There are not many more to come as Soldier Hollow only has around 15 yearlings and four foals. 

Graffard dominating the French racing scene

Peter Brant’s Almanzor filly Gezora became Graffard’s second Classic winner of the year in the Prix de Diane (G1), while his other runners Cankoura and Mandanaba finished third and fourth. 

The stable’s other recent big race winners include Calandagan, the brilliant winner of the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Woodshauna, who got his head in front in the final strides to win the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat, and Daryz, who remains unbeaten in four career starts and despite a very slowly run race came away from his rivals to win the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam. 

At the time of writing Graffard has won 92 races in France, 28 per cent of his runners and 28 black-type races, 37 per cent of his runners in this category. 

He has already had five Group 1 wins this year with Calandagan, Gezora, Zarigana, Woodshauna and Candelari and his stable has others who could easily win a Group 1 later such as Goliath, Sunly, Daryz and others. 

Graffard has the biggest string of horses, there are 225 listed on France Galop’s site, some of the most successful clients and, this year at least, almost everything he has tried has come off and the consistency of his runners has caught the attention of France’s betting public, all of his runners are well backed these days. 

The Aga Khan Studs has 75 horses with Graffard, and his other major backers include Al Asayl with 20, Juddmonte with nine, White Birch Farm with seven and Resolute Bloodstock with six. 

Woodshauna’s Jean Prat was a first French Group 1 win for John Stewart’s Resolute Bloodstock – the horse was purchased at the Goffs London Sale only weeks before. 

This year the son of Wooded has been improving with every run and, on official ratings, he has progressed 21lb since his seasonal debut on the All-Weather in Deauville in February. 

Deauville’s 1400 Group 1 for three-year -olds attracted a strong international field and, like the other major races for this generation, produced a close finish with Woodshauna, Maranoa Charlie, The Lion In Winter and Shadow Of Light passing the winning post within 0.12sec of each other. 

It was not a slowly run race – Woodshauna completed the final 200m only four per cent faster than his race average, and he and the fifth-placed Cacafonix both hit a top speed of 42mph – it is just that this year there seems to be a large group evenly matched three-year-olds. 

Daryz is unbeaten in four starts at around 1m2f, however, the Aga Khan Studs’ son of Sea The Stars out of the Group 1 winner Daryakana,
a half-brother to the Group 1 winner Dariyan, has looked like a potential top horse on his last two runs. 

At the beginning of June, he won a Listed at ParisLongchamp by an easy four-and-a-half lengths and returned three weeks later to take the ridiculously slowly-run Eugene Adam from Bay City Roller. 

Daryz ran the final 400m 19 per cent faster than his race average and hit a top speed of 43 mph, proving once again that the best middle-distance horses have natural speed as well as their other attributes. 

Daryz will move up to Group 1 level in the future and it will be a surprise of he does not join the group of three-year-olds good enough to compete at this level, he could even be the best of all of those trained in France.