Derby Dream Thriving At Hony-Hof

A small private stud in the heart of Germany provided one of the great stories of the 2020 racing season in Europe as the breeder of G1 Prix du Cadran winner Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}).

The graduates of Gestut Hony-Hof, which lies among remote woodland in the country's Hessen region to the north-east of Frankfurt, are more commonly seen running in the colours of the stud's owner Manfred Hellwig, whose purple-and-white silks are emblazoned with a giant H. Currently they are worn by three colts of this season's Classic generation, including Sunday's G2 Derby Trial winner in Hoppegarten, Sea Of Sands (Ger) (Sea Of Stars {Ire}). 

For most German breeders, winning the Deutsches Derby remains the ultimate goal, and few colts have better genetic claims to this coveted prize than Sea Of Sands. His third dam Sacarina (GB) (Old Vic {GB}) was bought as a 2-year-old by Philipp Stauffenberg on behalf of Gestut Karlshof. Though she didn't make the racecourse herself, Sacarina was a grand-daughter of the Schwarzgold-Rennen (German 1000 Guineas) winner Bravour (Fr) (Birkhahn {Ger}), who was also third in the G1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks). She more than atoned for her lack of performance by producing for Karlshof the Derby-wining full-brothers Samum (Ger) and Schiaparelli (Ger). The mare's repeated matings with their sire Monsun (Ger) also produced the Preis der Diana winner and Derby runner-up Salve Regina (Ger), who was bought as a youngster by Hony-Hof, and the unraced Sanwa (Ger). The latter is now best known as the dam of the 11-length Derby winner Sea The Moon (Ger), who is now a sought-after stallion at Lanwades in Newmarket.

For Gestut Hony-Hof, Salve Regina was an inspired purchase. Not only was she a superior racemare but she left quite a dynasty of her own in the quiet wooded paddocks of Hessen, where she produced seven fillies. Three of those daughters–Salve Haya (Ger) (Peintre Celebre), Salve Estelle (Ger) (Dansili {GB}) and Salve Aurora (Ger) (King's Best)–are each represented by a son in the entries for this year's Deutsches Derby.

Being by the outstanding Sea The Stars, Salve Haya's son Sea Of Sands is of course very similarly bred to Sea The Moon and he is currently co-favourite with Martial Eagle (Ire) (Adlerflug {Ger}), representing last year's winning connections of Gestut Schlenderhan and Francis Graffard, and the Gestut Auenquelle homebred and Henk Grewe-trained Virginia Storm (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). Jean-Pierre Carvalho trains the Hony-Hof trio which is completed by Sassoon (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}), a winner in Cologne and Chantilly this year and a decent fourth in Monday's G2 Prix Hocquart, and Sun Of Gold (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}).

Simon Minch, the Irish-born manager of Gestut Hony-Hof, says of Sea Of Sands, who has now won two of his five starts and was third in the G3 Bavarian Classic before his Derby Trial victory, “He's still learning his job. He was going around the parade ring screaming his head off [on Sunday]. We'll probably give him another run before the Derby just to get the routine into him more than anything. He's got talent to burn and he's improving with his racing but he he needs to learn.”

He continues, “We were very lucky to get into this family. Mr Hellwig bought Salve Regina directly from Gestut Karlshof. It was more by accident than anything else because when she was a yearling Samum hadn't won the Derby yet. Then we bought Sanwa as well, and we actually sold her in foal to Dansili at Tattersalls in 2008 to Charlie Gordon-Watson. So we had the dam of Sea The Moon here, but we already had Salve Regina, and Sanwa is tiny so I was worried she didn't have much scope. That shows you what I know as she produced a Derby winner, but we might get our own one out of the family yet.”

Minch has been at the helm of Hony-Hof since 2005, since then it has enjoyed success with horses such as G2 Goldene Peitsche winner Donnerschlag (GB) (Bahamian Bounty {GB}), GII Ballston Spa H. victrix Salve Germania (Ger) (Peintre Celebre), and the G2 Badener Meile winner Palace Prince (Ger) (Areion {Ger}), the half-brother to Princess Zoe who has just embarked on his second season at stud in France. A recent foal purchase became the 2019 G3 Preis der Winterkoenigin winner Ocean Fantasy (Fr) (Make Believe {GB}).

“People kind of think Hony-Hof are new kids on the block but the Hellwigs have been breeding for over 30 years. I took over in 2005 and we had our first group winner in 2009,” says Minch. “I'm very lucky that I have an owner like Manfred Hellwig who can go to Sea The Stars. How many breeders can do that if they're not a sheikh and it's not a foal share? Sea Of Sands, Sassoon and Sun Of Gold were the only three colts we had in that year and they are all knocking on the door so we're delighted.”

He continues, “A horse like Ocean Fantasy is part of the long-term strategy of the stud. We breed purely for our own racing stable, we don't sell yearlings or foals. I bought Ocean Fantasy at Arqana as a foal for €30,000 and she was bought to be a broodmare here to give us another string to our bow. We also have a Make Believe half-sister to Sassoon. I've always liked the stallion, and we have another mare in foal to him this year.”

Salve Germania was sold on to stud in Japan after her American stakes win and it is her full-sister Salve Haya who has now produced Sea Of Sands. Their Classic-winning mother who started the ball rolling, Salve Regina, was lost to lymphangitis several years after producing her final foal, Salve Estelle, the dam of Sassoon who in turn died last November after producing only two foals. Her yearling filly by Make Believe will hopefully continue her branch of the line, while her half-sisters Salve Haya and Salve Aurora are still in action at the farm, along with Salve Stella (Ire), a Shamardal half-sister to Sea Of Sands.

“It's a beautiful farm and we were dreaming of winning the Derby so over the years we upgraded the broodmares,” Minch says of the property, which is the sole stud farm within a 100km radius. “We bought Palace Princess, the dam of Princess Zoe, privately as a foal, and we have the 'Salve' line. And we slowly built it up and brought new fillies in like Ocean Fantasy. In breeding it doesn't happen from one day to the next, but I am very happy that for a small stud with eight to ten mares we are doing alright.”

The stud manager grew up in Ireland in a family with close ties to both racing and showjumping, and went to Germany initially in the early 1990s to break in some yearlings. 

“It's all the fault of Joe Hernon,” he recalls. “I worked in Castle Hyde Stud as a young lad and did the yearling sales for Camas Park and Islanmore. I was asked if I wanted to go to Germany to break in nine yearlings–I used to ride a lot in those days–so I came over and it all went swimmingly well. We got the yearlings broken in and got some nice horses out of it and I was asked if I would like to stay. It was never my plan but I just found my niche and I've got to work with some very good people.”

He adds of his colleagues at Hony-Hof, “It's only possible because of the stud's good owners who will let us do our thing. Teresa Lotz does a great job here, and there's really only two of us on the farm. But the farriers, the feed men, the lads in the racing stable–if they don't do their job then all we do is for nought. It's a big team effort.”

Minch admits that it is likely we will see the name Gestut Hony-Hof on the list of consignors at BBAG in the years to come. “We're going to start selling and we'll probably keep fillies, sell colts,” he says.

In the meantime, there appears to be much to look forward to on the track in the seasons to come, especially with the arrival this year of a half-sister to Princess Zoe from the first crop of Gestut Auenquelle's Best Solution (Ire). The filly has already been named Palace Sunshine (Ger).

Minch says, “Palace Princess has been very difficult to get in foal but she had a filly this year. The mare is not a good traveller. I sent her to England once and she ended up being on a drip for two days with travel sickness. So I can really only use stallions here who aren't too far away and we like to support the German breeding scene as well. We also have Palace Prince's full-sister, Palace Girl, in foal to Best Solution.”

Perhaps the only foal by his sire in Germany is a colt from the first crop of four-time group winner and Hony-Hof graduate Palace Prince. He now stands at Elevage Joel Denis near Moulins in the prime National Hunt breeding territory of central France. Also much prized among the crop of eight foals this year is the Le Havre (Ire) half-sister to Sea Of Sands. The filly also has a full-sister, Salve Le Meer (Ger), in training alongside the Classic hopeful at the Carvalho stable.

Minch says, “The Le Havre 2-year-old filly is a goddess, she's absolutely gorgeous. The trainer has nearly built an altar with incense sticks outside her box. I love her so much we sent the mare back to Le Havre and happily we have a full-sister this year. We live in hope that we have another nice one there.”

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The Weekly Wrap: Classics, Classics Everywhere 

It seems harsh, when the British and Irish Classics have so far have been split two apiece between Jim Bolger and Aidan O'Brien, to suggest that this season is all about Bolger. But, let's face it, it is. 

Plenty has been written about Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) and Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and the fact that both sides of their families are very much ingrained in the Bolger breeding and training academy. What is equally admirable, especially in the case of Mac Swiney, is the fact that they are being rigorously campaigned. The trainer has already confirmed that the Irish 2000 Guineas winner is now on course for Epsom in an attempt to emulate both his sire and grandsire in the race that many people still consider to be the greatest of them all. Surprisingly, the master breeder Jim Bolger is not one of them.

Following Poetic Flare's triumph at Newmarket, Bolger declared that he believed the 2000 Guineas to be the most important race. That said, he surely will not mind if Mac Swiney delivers a second Derby victory for him, 13 years after New Approach became the first of six Derby winners for Galileo.

It is worth rewatching Galileo's own Derby triumph 20 years ago to be reminded how the relatively small horse with the massive stride skated round Tattenham Corner and scooted clear in the straight. 

In an interview with TDN earlier this year, Aidan O'Brien reflected on the racing days of Europe's multiple champion sire, who gave him his first Derby victory, recalling how those connected with Galileo at Coolmore had a high opinion of him even as a yearling.

“He didn't walk, he prowled, ” O'Brien said. “His walking stride was so long and there was so much power from his front and back, so I suppose the lads had him as a king before he came here.”

He has more than justified that belief, both on the racecourse and at stud, and Galileo has in no small way played a significant part in the training careers of both Bolger and his protege O'Brien.

The latter has eight of the remaining Derby entries, Bolger has just one, Mac Swiney, the horse who could become the first Derby winner to be inbred to Galileo, through Bolger's two champion juveniles New Approach and Teofilo (Ire). Furthermore, as breeder, Bolger has another roll of the dice via the Mark Johnston-trained Gear Up (Ire), a son of Teofilo. 

For all his success, which includes wins in the G2 Beresford S., G1 Vertem Futurity and now the Irish 2000 Guineas, the mud-loving Mac Swiney has never started favourite and remains perhaps under-rated. Following the coldest, wettest English May in living memory, it would be folly to overlook the neat, tenacious colt at Epsom on the first Saturday of June. Destiny calls.

Gold For Japan In Rome

Chantilly-based Satoshi Kobayashi has had seven winners in France so far this year but it was in Italy on Sunday that he recorded the biggest success of his career to date. The trainer sent the Teruya Yoshida homebred Tokyo Gold (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) to Capannelle for an easy four-length victory in 138th running of the Derby Italiano, which was downgraded to Group 2 status in 2009.

Tokyo Gold is the first Classic winner for his sire Kendargent, and his third group winner this year after the likeable Skalleti (Fr) and his full-brother Skazino (Fr). The latter claimed his second group victory of the season when winning the G2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at ParisLongchamp on Monday.

Now 18, Kendargent is having a fruitful season in France and is numerically the most successful sire with 38 winners as well as the Nicolas Caullery-trained Kennella (Fr), who was third in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches. The Haras de Colleville stallion's reputation is also being enhanced by his son and stablemate Goken (Fr), who was leading first-season sire and leading sire of 2-year-olds in France last year, with 15 winners from just 33 runners, including the group winners Go Athletico (Fr) and Livachope (Fr).

Yoshida, owner of Japan's famous Shadai Farm, has a notably international outlook when it comes to selecting broodmares, and his support extends to to a number of leading French sires, including Le Havre (Ire) who is the sire of the latest foal for Arc winner Dandedream (Ger) (Lomitas {GB}). The 13-year-old mare foaled a filly by the Sumbe stallion last Wednesday in Japan.

Yoshida also bought Le Havre's Classic-winning daughters La Cressonniere (Fr) and Avenir Certain (Fr). The latter has been represented by two winners this season in her two daughters by Deep Impact (Jpn), the G2 Hanshin Himba S winner Dea Ailes (Jpn), and 3-year-old Honneur (Jpn), who are sadly her only offspring as she died after being covered by Deep Impact in 2018. 

La Cressonniere visited Shalaa (Ire) and Golden Horn (GB) in Europe and is now in Japan, where she had a colt last year by Epiphaneia (Jpn) before being covered by his fellow Shadai stallion Lord Kanaloa (Jpn).

Carvalho Has Classic Double In Sight

It has been a successful couple of days for the French-born, German-based trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho, who won Monday's G2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen (German 2000 Guineas) with Mythico (Ger), another promising 3-year-old for the recently deceased Adlerflug (Ger).

On Sunday, Carvalho, a former private trainer at Gestut Schlenderhan, saddled Sea Of Sands (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) to win the G3 Derby Trial at Hoppegarten for owner/breeder Gestut Hony-Hof, an operation we will be covering in greater detail in Wednesday's TDN. 

Sea Of Sands represents a family which has had an enormous impact on the German Classics over the last two decades. His grandam Salve Regina (Ger) (Monsun Ger) won the G1 Preis der Diana for Hony-Hof's owner Manfred Hellwig and was second in the G1 Deutsches Derby in 2002, two years after her full-brother Samum (Ger) had won the Derby at Hamburg. In 2005, another full-brother Schiaparelli (Ger) followed suit, and three years later Samum's son Kamsin (Ger) won the Derby en route to becoming German champion 3-year-old. The run continued with the 2014 winner, Sea The Moon (Ger), a son of Sea The Stars and the unraced Sanwa (Ger), another full-sibling to Salve Regina. Now a successful sire in his own right at Lanwades Stud, Sea The Moon is thus very similarly bred to Sea Of Sands, who is now co-favourite for this year's Deutsches Derby on July 4.

Second-Crop Sires To Watch

For the current second-crop sires, what happens this year on the racecourse is arguably so much more important than the results from their first 2-year-old runners. 

Mehmas (Ire), who made a frankly staggering start to his stud career last year with a record 56 winners, looks to be making that important transition with his 3-year-olds and is also compiling an international profile. The Tally-Ho Stud resident has so far had only four runners in America but three of them have won, including the treble Grade III victrix and appropriately named Going Global (Ire), who has now won all four of her American starts. 

The G3 One Thousand Guineas Trial winner Keeper Of Time (Ire) has recently been sold to race in America and will surely add to her good record across the Atlantic, as has been the case for Tetragonal (Ire), a first-time-out winner for Hugo Palmer last year who won for Richard Baltas on Saturday at Santa Anita on the same card as Going Global.

One second-crop European sire we've heard much less about is Protectionist (Ger), but that may soon change. For a start, he is the only one in the table who boasts a strike rate of 11% group winners to runners. The final son of Monsun (Ger) at stud in Germany, Protectionist has large shoes to fill but, from only 18 starters this year, he has been represented by two group winners. The first, Lambo (Ger), won the G3 Bavarian Classic on May 1, beating subsequent G2 Derby Trial winner Sea Of Sands, before finishing third in Monday's G2 Prix Hocquart at ParisLongchamp. 

Protectionist also looks to have a genuine contender for the G1 Preis der Diana on Aug. 1 in Amazing Grace (Ger), winner of Sunday's G2 Diana Trial for owner/breeder Dr Christoph Berglar, who also bred her sire. His son Liban, a winner at Cologne in April, also holds a Derby entry. 

The winner of the G1 Melbourne Cup and G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, Protectionist, in common with most German sires, has covered relatively small books and had 44 foals in his first crop, followed by 36 in 2019. However, he has the advantage of standing at Gestut Rottgen, which has supported him with members of its own powerful broodmare band, including Wellenspiel (Ger) (Sternkoenig {Ger}), the dam of consecutive Deutsches Derby winners Windstoss (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}) and Weltstar (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). Furthermore, Protectionist's owners Australian Bloodstock have not only supported him with mares but have also bought his yearlings in Germany, and Lambo now races in their colours.

Two of Protectionist's offspring, a filly from his first and second crops respectively, have already been exported to Australia and it is fair to expect that more will follow. 

In the meantime, Protectionist is very much a stallion to follow with interest in Europe.

Hello Royal Ascot

It seems as if almost every British race meeting has at least one Amo Racing runner these days, and Kia Joorabchian's operation looks set to be well represented at Royal Ascot.

The latest to have advertised strong claims for a trip to the Berkshire course in mid-June was Monday's impressive Wolverhampton winner Hello You (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who trounced her rivals by six and a half lengths in one of the most impressive juvenile performances of the season to date. Trained by Ralph Beckett, she was a €350,000 purchase by Robson Aguiar at last year's Arqana Select Sale from her breeder Serge Boucheron. 

Hello You's win on debut brought up 18 for the season for Amo Racing, which equalled their tally of winners for the whole of 2020. This followed victories on Saturday for Raadobarg (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), who completed a treble at Haydock, and Beautiful Sunshine (GB) (Ardad {Ire}), who struck for the second time at Sandown on Thursday and is likely to return there this week for the listed National S.

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