Tag: Torquator Tasso

‘It’s Absolutely Like a Film’: Paul Vandeberg on Breeding Torquator Tasso

“I can't say I'm not fine because I'm such a lucky man in the last two years with my hobby of breeding horses. It's not a normal position to be in.”

So says Paul Vandeberg, breeder not only of the reigning Arc hero Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) but also of Tünnes (Ger) (Guiliani {Ire}), who as a 2-year-old last season won the G3 Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen. The colts are half-brothers and, remarkably, their dam Tijuana (Ger) (Toylsome {GB}) is the only mare owned by the Dutch breeder.

It is no case of beginner's luck for Vandeberg, however. For many years before thoroughbred breeding cast its spell over him he had been breeding Dutch warmbloods. And once he turned his hand to racehorses, it wasn't just the breeding that enthralled Vandeberg as he also trained for a time at Duindigt racecourse in The Hague, with a third-place finisher in the Dutch Derby the closest he came to major-race success.

He crept one position closer to Classic glory when Torquator Tasso finished second to In Swoop (Ire) (Adlerflug {Ger}) in the German Derby of 2020, and it wasn't long before the colt Vandeberg had sold for €24,000 at the BBAG Yearling Sale was a Group 1 winner in his own right. Torquator Tasso won the Grosser Preis von Berlin later that season, but it is of course what he achieved the following year that has brought him to the wider attention of the racing public.

Having beaten the 2021 German Derby winner Sisfahan (Fr) (Isfahan {Ger}) in the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden, Torquator Tasso left his home nation for the first time for his famous 80-1 victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. His breeder, not daring to believe he could win, did not go with him.

“I had a good feeling about him, and I thought maybe he could have finished fifth,” Vandeberg admits. “But winning? That was a surprise.”

Based in The Netherlands at Hilleshagen, just kilometres from the German border, Vandeberg was active for decades in the Dutch thoroughbred breeding association but gradually based his breeding interests at Bergheim, not far from Cologne, as his home country's pool of broodmares dwindled. 

“In the beginning, for the first 25 years, I bred only Dutch horses, and then when I became involved with Dutch racing, at that time we had a lot of good owners,” he says. “Some of them went to England to have their horses trained. Then after 20, 25 years, the sport in Holland started going backwards. When I sat on the breeders' committee we had about 250 broodmares. Now at the moment in Holland, there are maybe five, six [thoroughbred] broodmares.”

Vandeberg continues, “Then I bought a filly in Germany. I went to stallions in Germany, and for a long time now I have kept mares at a stud in Germany.”

That stud is Gestüt Erftmühle, just two kilometres down the road from the legendary Gestüt Schlenderhan, which plays a significant role in the Torquator Tasso story as the breeder of his dam.

“When I lost my last mare, I asked around in Germany about buying a filly,” Vandeberg recalls. “Then sometimes at the track I saw Gebhard Apelt, the manager of Schlenderhan, and I asked him. 

“I got Tijuana with one condition: that Schlenderhan could have the first filly out of the mare. So when Tellez was born, I gave her back, and they are her breeders on paper.”

Tellez (Ger) is a full-sister to Tünnes, both of them being by the Erftmühle resident and Schlenderhan-bred Group 1 winner Guiliani, whose pedigree combines two of Schlenderhan's most noted stallions in his sire Tertullian–who is closely related to Urban Sea–and his damsire Monsun (Ger). 

Tijuana managed just one placed finish from an underwhelming racing career but there was plenty to encourage a small breeder to take her on. For starters she is a half-sister to the Group 2-winning filly Tusked Wings (Ger), who is by Torquator Tasso's German Derby-winning sire Adlerflug. Her granddam is Turbaine, the Trempolino half-sister to Urban Sea who features as the dam of Tertullian. In sending Tijuana thrice to Guiliani and four times to the late Adlerflug for her first seven matings, Vandeberg was thus inbreeding to Germany's most influential family.

Using a suffix local to him for those horses he has named, Vandeberg currently has Torquator Tasso's 2-year-old sister Tiara Hilleshage (Ger) in training with Marcel Weiss alongside her illustrious elder brother. He also wants to keep hold of the yearling full-brother named Tiamo Hilleshage (Ger). Tellez, now four, races for Schlenderhan, while the mare's first foal, Tibo Hilleshage (Ger), also by Guiliani, broke his leg while in training and never raced.

The 11-year-old mare, who has a Guiliani foal at foot, was covered this season by Gestüt Fahrhof's newcomer Alson (Ger), a son of Areion (Ger) who was also bred by Schlenderhan.

This year's BBAG Yearling Sale takes place on Friday and Vandeberg admits to an internal tussle over whether or not to capitalise on the success of the Arc winner in offering his brother for sale.

He says, “I could have taken him to Arqana in Deauville. I could bring him to Baden-Baden. I spoke with a lot of people, and if I used my brains I would have decided sell him, but if I use my heart, I say, 'I don't want to sell him'.”

While offers will doubtless continue to be made for members of Tijuana's family, Vandeberg can in the meantime continue to enjoy the exploits of her offspring, especially, imminently, the return of the 'big two'.

The 'Grosse Woche', Baden-Baden's most prestigious week of racing, gets underway this weekend. Tünnes, the one-time German Derby favourite, is set to make his long-awaited comeback after a setback ruled him out of the first half of his Classic season. The Peter Schiergen-trained colt is set to run in the BBAG sales race at the track on Wednesday, while Torquator Tasso, with Frankie Dettori booked to ride for the first time, will attempt to defend his crown in next Sunday's Grosser Preis von Baden.

“Torquator Tasso has many fans at the moment because he was Horse of the Year in Germany in 2020 and '21. I hope he has a chance for the third year to be Horse of the Year,” says the justifiably proud breeder.

“It is fantastic what has happened with this horse and what has happened for me in that time because we have been breeding horses for more than 50 years, and then suddenly we have not just a Group 1 winner but one of the best horses of the world. It's absolutely like a film.”

 

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Torquator Tasso and Westover to Clash in King George 

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) is among the six five-day confirmations for the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth QIPCO S. at Ascot on Saturday, along with Irish Derby hero Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Oaks runner-up Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

The 5-year-old German raider was given the green light after a gallop on Monday morning at Mulheim, where he is trained by Marcel Weiss for owner Gestut Auenquelle. He bids to emulate compatriots Danedream (Ger) (Lomitas {GB}) and Novellist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), who won Britain's premier weight-for-age race in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

Torquator Tasso, the easy winner of the G2 Hansa-Preis at Hamburg on his most recent outing on July 2, worked over 11 furlongs with his regular jockey Rene Piechulek, with Weiss declaring that he was “very happy” with the horse's final serious prep for Saturday.

“It was a very important piece of work and it gives me a lot of confidence because I saw the horse like he was last year and he's getting better and better through the season,” said the trainer. 

“After the Arc we worked out a plan for this year and it was a wish of the owner to go to Ascot before going back to the Arc. Danedream also won the Arc and then the King George for Germany, which tells you that you can try to do it and you can win.”

With record temperatures in England in the early part of this week and only the odd shower of rain possible at Ascot prior to Saturday the ground is unlikely to be too different from its current status of good to firm, good in places.

Weiss added, “The ground will not be a problem; Ascot is a very nice track and it is kept in good condition, especially for the quality horses this weekend.

“At Hamburg he won on fast ground. He's just maybe a bit better when the ground is softer, but he can go on every ground.”

Completing a classy field for the weekend's feature race are the Group 1 winners Broome (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) and Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}).

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Seven Days: Veni, Vidi, Vici, Vadeni

This season we appear to have been gifted an above average crop of 3-year-olds, along with some truly exciting older horses who have remained in training. It is as it should be, but things don't always work out that way. 

France and England exchanged Group 1 races at the weekend: on Saturday it was a case of veni, vidi, vici for Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}), who gave France a first victory in the race since 1960, when it was won by the Percy Carter-trained Javelot (Fr) (Fast Fox {Fr}). The prize had also gone to France the year before Javelot when the winner was Saint Crespin (Fr) (Aureole {GB}), trained by Alec Head for Prince Aly Khan, the father of Vadeni's owner/breeder HH Aga Khan IV.

Then, in a stellar comeback performance in the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on Sunday, Kirsten Rausing's lovely grey mare Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) added yet another win to her unbroken string which now extends to six, including four Group 1s. 

Hundred Up

There can be few better ways to celebrate 100 years of Aga Khan Studs breeding than by providing the sport with the pre-eminent 3-year-old colt of the season so far, and that is how we must view Vadeni following his success in the Prix du Jockey Club against his peers and subsequent Eclipse success. 

When Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) lined up for the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket and then returned to scale in tandem after finishing first and second, it was hard to split them on looks. Both dark bay colts are big, strong and solid, and Native Trail appeared to have come on again when glimpsed in the paddock before the Eclipse. As befits a race of its status, it was a good-looking field, albeit none of the six runners were brought into the pre-parade ring, to the disappointment of a significant number of people who had gathered there to see them. With the numbers through the gates at racecourses falling this year it seems madness to disappoint the faithful and serious racegoers by depriving them of one of the most important aspects of a day at the races: the opportunity to inspect the runners parading before they are saddled. It is not just Sandown where this has slipped, as a number of runners in both the Derby and the Oaks came up so late to the parade ring at Epsom that they took only one turn before going to post.

That grumble aside, once in the main parade ring, Native Trail, Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) and Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {Ire}) were the three most imposing colts. It has to be said that the smaller and quite slight Vadeni did not match this trio on looks, but handsome is as handsome does, and the whippet in the pack of greyhounds was given the perfect slipstream ride by Christophe Soumillon, who produced him with a flourish to make a devastating challenge two furlongs from home to win what will surely be one of the best races of the year.

Vadeni's grand-dam, the G1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Vadawina (Ire) (Unfuwain), was one of 74 horses in training purchased among a batch of 222 horses which formed the entire racing and breeding operation of the late Jean-Luc Lagardere in 2005, including his stallion, Linamix (Fr). The amalgamation of the Lagardere bloodlines with the Aga Khan stock, following earlier acquisitions from fellow influential breeders Marcel Boussac and Francois Dupre, has continued to revitalise the Aga Khan Studs broodmare band while working in tandem with lines that have been nurtured by the operation throughout the last century. 

Jean-Claude Rouget is no stranger to big-race success in his home country but Vadeni was his first Group 1 winner in Britain since Almanzor (Fr) landed the Champion S. in 2016. Vadeni has drawn favourable comparisons with that former Rouget stable star and it seems likely that he will attempt to emulate him in the Irish Champion S. come September. 

Alpinista Scales New Heights

As we wait to see if Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) or Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}) can get the better of their elders in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. later this month, two serious challengers for that race announced their fine form over the weekend. Alpinista, who has her roots in an Aga Khan family through her fourth dam Alruccaba (Ire) (Crystal Palace {FR}), last met Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) when trouncing him by almost three lengths in the Grosser Preis von Berlin last August. That was the first of her three Group 1 wins in Germany last term and, as if to silence those that can be sniffy about German form, Torquator Tasso went on to win the Grosser Preis von Baden followed by the Arc, while Alpinista has now continued her unstoppable run of six victories with a rousing victory over fellow Frankel-sired Baratti (GB) at Saint-Cloud.

“She's in better form than the trainer,” Sir Mark Prescott told the TDN on Monday as the dust settled on Alpinista's first racecourse appearance in 238 days. She had originally been entered for the Coronation Cup but had been withdrawn from that potential engagement with Prescott feeling she wasn't ready for her seasonal resumption. Even ahead of Sunday he wasn't sure that the 5-year-old was quite there.

“Her coat wasn't as good as I would have liked and I felt she was still a gallop short but I was probably wrong on the way she won,” he continued. “I think it's the first time she has really impressed. She's been jolly good at winning races but perhaps not at impressing people. 

“It's a real pleasure to have her. With a filly, everything they put on in black type enhances them tremendously and even if they are beaten it's not a catastrophe because they are remembered for their best. Whereas a colt is remembered for his worst and if you get it wrong you can knock astronomical sums off their value. So I think all trainers would agree with me that training a top-class filly is a lot less pressure than training a top-class colt.”

Prescott knows plenty about top-class fillies, and from this high-achieving Lanwades family in particular. In the yard at his Heath House stand the statues of Alpinista's grand-dam Albanova (GB) (Alzao) and her full-sister Alborada (GB), who between them won five Group 1 races for the stable. Like her grand-daughter, Albanova's trio of top-flight wins were recorded in Germany, while Alborada won back-to-back runnings of the Champion S in its original (and rightful) home of Newmarket. She also won the G2 Nassau S. and G2 Pretty Polly S. of 1998, both of which have subsequently been promoted to Group 1 status. 

Prescott also trained Alpinista's dam, Alwilda (GB) (Hernando {Fr}). He recalled, “Her mother was little but very tough and straightforward, very genuine. She won her Listed race more by application than ability. This one [Alpinista] has plenty of ability. When she shot clear I think everybody among her supporters let out a cheer for her.”

That we did. And now we can hope to see her at Ascot for the King George, with the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe her longer-range target. Last year's Arc winner Torquator Tasso clearly needs a bit of warming up from his winter breaks as he has finished sixth in his last two seasonal debuts before clicking into top gear. On Saturday at Hamburg he put his tardy start behind him with an eased-down victory in the G2 Grosser Hansa-Preis.

Peter Michael Endres, representing his owner Karl-Dieter Ellerbracke's Gestut Auenquelle, mapped out a clear plan after the race which takes in the King George, followed by return raids on Baden-Baden and ParisLongchamp for his last two starts ahead of a stud career.

Sammarco: 'The Dream Of My Life'

When Torquator Tasso eventually retires to Gestut Auenquelle he has big shoes to fill if he is to follow the example of the stud's resident stallion Soldier Hollow, who has been champion sire and champion broodmare sire in Germany on multiple occasions. 

It was in the latter role that he featured in the pedigree of the winner of Sunday's G1 Deutsches Derby, Sammarco (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who is owned and was bred by Helmut von Finck of Gestut Park Wiedingen, who also raced and still owns Soldier Hollow.

Von Finck, who has 15 broodmares at his farm in northern Germany, on Monday reflected on a Classic victory that was the culmination of decades of breeding.

“He's such a good horse, very relaxed at home but such a fighter on the track,” he said of the Peter Schiergen-trained Sammarco. “It has been my dream for 35 years to get the Derby winner and now I have done it as an owner and breeder with a horse from my own stud who is from a mare by my stallion. It is the dream of my life. It fulfils 35 years of work.”

He continued, “Sammarco is really well this morning and lost only a few kilos in the race. He's happy and very relaxed out in the paddock. He has had four starts for three wins and a second, and now he has won the Derby on his fourth start. Everything is perfect.”

The breeder, who will be offering Sammarco's half-brother by Areion (Ger) at the BBAG Yearling Sale in early September, outlined a potential clash with Torquator Tasso at Baden-Baden on the weekend immediately following the sale.

He continued, “I would like to give him a break from racing for eight weeks and then go to the Grosser Preis von Baden. I don't want him to do too much as a 3-year-old as my plan is to race him at four.”

Von Finck currently has five mares in foal to his treble champion sire Soldier Hollow, whose sons Pastorius (Ger) and Weltstar (Ger) are both German Derby winners. Now 22, he currently leads the German broodmares sires' table ahead of another former Auenquelle resident, the late Big Shuffle. 

He added, “Soldier Hollow is also the broodmare sire of Schnell Meister, a Grade I winner in Japan. I'm very proud of him going towards his third championship as broodmare sire. He covered 45 mares last year and I am happy to have five mares in foal to him. He's not the youngest but he is very well and still capable of covering that number.”

Hollie in Hamburg

The offspring of the Gestut Rottgen mare Wellenspiel (Ger) (Sternkoenig {Ire}) have played starring roles on German Derby weekend right from the off, with her first two foals, Windstoss (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}) and Weltstar (Ger}) (Soldier Hollow {GB}), winning the Derby in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Their younger half-sister Well Disposed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) has now added more kudos to the family by landing the G3 Mehl-Mulhens Trophy on the Derby undercard. 

Her victory marked the first in the country for Classic-winning jockey Hollie Doyle, who also rode for Gestut Rottgen in the Derby aboard the filly Wagnis (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}). She fared less well in this Classic, which suffered a near 30-minute delay while the rails were realigned with the runners at the post, and Doyle was lucky to remain in the saddle when Wagnis stumbled badly on the turn. Winner of the G3 Diana Trial by five lengths on her previous start, the filly regained her composure and ran on to be 11th of the 20 runners. 

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‘I Had No Clue Who Adlerflug Was But I Just Loved Alenquer’ 

Few people will go through life fortunate enough to say they have had anything to do with a Group 1 winner–fewer still with one who cost just €18,000 as a foal.

But back in 2018, when not many were in a hurry to get behind the little-known Adlerflug (Fr) (In The Wings {GB}), one of the ill-fated sire's most talented sons went through the ring at Arqana for that paltry sum.

It was Gerry Burke's eye and pocket who saw something in Alenquer (Ger) long before the horse confirmed himself a colt of the highest standard in winning the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on Sunday, not that the man behind Glidawn Stud will take much credit. 

“Normally, when these horses end up becoming Group 1 winners, it's because they have been fortunate enough to have been in good hands, particularly when it comes to the trainer,” said Burke, deflecting the praise towards William Haggas.

“It's lovely when something like this happens as it gives people hope that you don't have to spend hundreds of thousands to find a Group 1 winner. 

“He [Alenquer] was a relatively inexpensive foal and was lucky for everyone he was associated with. He left me a few quid and has done very well for his new connections.” – Gerry Burke

Torquator Tasso (Ger), last season's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, and In Swoop (Ire), had yet to fly the flag for Adlerflug by the time Burke re-offered Alenquer as a yearling, not that it mattered much.

Such was the quality of animal Burke was dealing with, Alenquer was accepted into Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale, and despite admitting to knowing next to nothing about the colt's sire, popular bloodstock agent Armando Duarte went to 80,000gns to secure him.

Picking up the story, Duarte, who purchased Alenquer on behalf of MM Stables, recalled, “Within three strides of seeing Alenquer walking out of his box, I thought 'wow, he is absolutely unbelievable.' He'd a great walk, a great shoulder, a lovely head with good ears and good eyes. “I went and looked at every other horse in that sale but he was the one who kept coming back to my mind. I think I looked at him 13 times. I had no clue who Adlerflug was but I just loved Alenquer.”

He added, “Bill O'Gorman, who taught me everything I know, always said to me that horses don't know how much they cost and it's a fact. He was a great mentor to me and taught me to look for the triangular shape between the withers, shoulders and the hip. Alenquer had that triangular shape that I look for.”

The Tattersalls Gold Cup has at times been rendered a damp squib, a soft touch if you like, but not Sunday's edition. 

Alenquer beat globetrotting stars State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) and Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and Group 1 scorers Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and Helvic Dream (Ire) (Power {GB}) in recording his finest hour on the racetrack and Duarte believes the 4-year-old has more to offer at the highest level.

“To be honest, sometimes I have to pinch myself. Things like this don't happen very often so you have to enjoy it,” he said.

“It was as good a Tattersalls Gold Cup as I can remember. We like to give him a little break between races so I think we will go to the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown next. After that, we could look at the King George at Ascot, the Juddmonte, the Irish Champion Stakes or even the Arc. There are so many options. He's improving all the time and is exciting.” 

Alenquer was the only foal that Burke brought home from Arqana in 2018 and he counts himself “blessed” to have found him. Whether it was fate, or just sheer luck, Burke explained that Duarte was the first man to pull Alenquer out of his stable at Tattersalls and that Sunday's triumph marked the anniversary of another special day. 

The renowned pinhooker said, “I knew that Armando loved him. He was the first man to pull him out of the box. The horse was well liked by a lot of very good judges at the sales and it was nice to see the experts back up what we thought of him at home. 

“He was the only foal I bought at Arqana that year. I was blessed to find him. We sold Hula Angel (Woodman), who won the Irish 1,000 Guineas 23 years ago to the day of Alenquer's Gold Cup win, so that's how long it took me to find another one. We have been very blessed to have had him.”

Many good things come to those who deserve them least but in the case of Gwen Monneraye and Lucie Lamotte of La Motteraye, who consigned Alenquer at Arqana on behalf of Michael Andree, they have earned their place in the third and final chapter of the Alenquer story. 

Gwen and Lucie, who welcomed their first child Olivia into the world just three months ago, were zipping down to the south of France for a mini holiday when they pulled over to watch Alenquer storm to Curragh glory. 

Alenquer came from just the second crop of foals born at La Motteraye, the fast-developing stud in Normandy, with the broodmare band more than doubling since 2018 from 20 to 50 currently. 

Among them is Alenquer's dam Wild Blossom (Ger) (Areion {Ger}), happily in foal to Victor Ludorum (GB) (Shamardal), which provided the young family with extra reason to celebrate over the weekend. 

Monneraye said, “Alenquer was born and reared on our farm. Michael Andree, of Gestut Romerhof, is the Coolmore representative in Germany and is also a very good client of ours. He sent the mare [Wild Blossom] in foal to Adlerflug and she has remained on our farm ever since.”

He added, “I can remember asking Michael about the stallion as I didn't know a lot about Adlerflug. He was a nice horse to be bringing to the sales but people were not aware of Adlerflug and he made only €18,000. His statistics are looking very smart now.

“We work hard every day and to get a result like that was amazing. We were actually on the road to go on a little holiday when we pulled over to watch the race on our phone. It was the best start ever to a holiday and we drank a lot of champagne when we arrived.”

Rare are days where a horse like Alenquer comes along. They need to be celebrated and Burke, Duarte, Andree, Monneraye and Lamotte certainly have.

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