Czech-trained Darsalam won Gr-I-race in Germany

[saintlyCZ]

siegy: allright. I only wanted to say that Sarava was far from really good horse...

parlo: some more light into Darsalam's case: I finally saw Darsalam's defeat in Karlovy Vary. Well... it was worse than I expected. It was really "impressive"! He just had no chance to Torlus... But!
There was a great race today in Most, the best milers and middle distance runners, one of the best fields this year. With Torlus, who defeated Darsalam in Karlovy Vary. Shortly - he toyed with them! Led every step of the way, ran nicely, comfortably... at the end he won only by a short head, but he was very impressive all the way.
This race was only nine furlongs, but it at least proved that Torlus is top horse (no new, he's showed last year he's a very good middle distance horse) and Darsalam's defeat now looks much better.
Still I don't believe he shows his full class here, but I know even one furlong can make a big difference... From this point of view it gives quite good sense. Allright Now I'm more curious about his next race...
BTW - those photos are quite impressive, thanks!

[saintlyCZ]

I forgot... there was 2yo's race in Most, and there were some horses by Secret n'Classy. One colt won, another filly was third. I'd love to be in Most, but in TV they looked very nicely. The winner, Zanussy, was very impressive - in the last furlong he was behind two horses, his rider took him to the barrier and suddenly he was in the front... I've seen many good horses who just flew away, but no one of them was able to quicken so dramatically Very, very nice. Overall they were really impressive, you can see their royal blood in them... Without Rainbows For Life, who always had great foals, those Secret's foals are the best I've seen so far. I'm looking forward to their next races

And one more note to Darsalam - I've read he's rated 98,5 kg, while Redakta was rated 98! Nothing against Redakta, who was great filly, but THIS???

[parlo]

@saintlyCZ: Thanks for information and nice to hear that Torlus seemed to be under-estimated till now! Will he be raced here? There is a G2-mile-race on September 24th or 25th at Cologne and there is a 10-furlong pattern-race at Frankfurt in the autumn as well.

I’m glad to hear that Secret ’n Classy develops into a worthy rival to Rainbow for Life as a sire – it will always be good for the breed if there are sires of equal qualities at the same time in a region. We had this development in Germany too: in the 1960ties and early 70ties breeding was dominated by Ticino and his sons (Orsini, Neckar and some others) and some imported “outcross”-sires of doubtful quality. Breeding-progress started over here in the late 1960ties with the (home-bred!) sons of Tamerlane (Dschingis Khan, Priamos) and when Mr. Jacobs imported foreign mares (Crape Band, Love In, Surama, Aggrevate) as foundations-mares of his Fährhof Stud to be bred to Birkhahn, his sons and well-chosen foreign sires (which were not always top-class according to foreign measurement!). Later imported sires of high class like Big Shuffle, Dashing Blade, perhaps Law Society gave a further push to German TB. Watch the result: German-bred sires with top-class international racing-performance like Lomitas, Lando and Tiger Hill are at stud abroad now and do well there (admittedly: there is much “non-German blood” in them and Lomitas is not allowed to serve as TB-sire in Germany because of the medical treatment he got during his late racing-carrier abroad!). Off-springs of “German-based” sires like Acatenango, Monsun, Big Shuffle, Dashing Blade, Law Society (all free of Northern Dancer!) are even a success when they are trained and raced abroad.

There is a systematic reason why Redakta’s German handicap-rating in 1985 was 98 (kg GAG = “Generalausgleich = general handicap rating”) and Darsalam’s is 98,5 kg now: according and parallel to the ratings of the international-classification there is a linear depreciation of the German GAG-ratings in the time-period from 1982 to 1997. So You must deduct about 4 kg from the official ratings up to 1982 to compare them with present day ratings. For the year 1985 this systematic deduction is still about 3 kg. So Redakta’s 98,5 kg of 1985 is equivalent to 95,5 kg under present day estimations.

This systematical effect of handicapping is described in a book which was published only a month ago and is written by the German senior-handicapper, Mr. P. Schmanns. In his book “Von Herero to Boreal” (ISBN: 3-00-016102-3) he gives a detailed and comprehensive report of German TB-racing and breeding from 1962 to 2001 in comparing the ten top-horses of every season. By doing this he follows a tradition which was initiated by Mr. R. Sternfeld (“Von Patience bis Nereide” – 1905 to 1936) and continued by Mr. H. Rudolfi (“Von Abendfrieden bis Baalim – 1937 to 1961). The titles of the books refer to the names of the winners of the German Derby at the beginning and the end of the each period surveyed. So now we have an unbroken and adjusted handicap of all horses in Germany during the past hundred years. I think this is a unique feature in the world of thoroughbred-breeding!

Kind regards!

[saintlyCZ]

parlo: so you were right, this was the first group one victory for "Czech" horse According to one article written by man which I can't stand But he has the access to important informations, which I don't have, so... But I didn't want to talk about this. Also there was written that the soft ground suited him quite well. Hope it will suit him in all future races

And Torlus? Wait a moment! I don't think he's SO good Torlus is classy 9furlong colt, Darsalam classy stayer. When you compare them on their favourite distances.... Torlus defeated some very good horses, but he isn't as dominant as Darsalam is among stayers and Scyris among spriners. Both Darsalam and Scyris are used to destroy anybody who dares to run against him; Torlus not. Which doesn't mean that he's worse horse, naturally, but I doubt he's GR.2 class. And by the way - Scyris didn't like the ground too, so he could run even better. However - his result is still nice.

Thank you for the handicapping part - it was really something I've never heard about, and I'm glad I can ask somebody about it

And stallions? It's similar to Czech breeding in many ways. However, I'm only starting with traditionally Czech breeding, so I can't talk much about it... There's the problem that we don't have ANY breeding books. Congratulations to your series of books; it must be great to have something like that... All I have is a very rare book with profiles of Napajedla stallions - it's 30 years old and people of my generation don't know even that this book exists! I wouldn't know it too if I hadn't buy it two years ago with some yearbooks.... What more? Some stallion catalogues - of quite poor quality, although full credit to people who were making them... One thin book of remembrances of Dr. Michal, two great books about Napajedla (also very thin and only with basic info) and two popular books, who most of us read when we were twelve to fourteen.
Nice, isn't it?
Other informations we are learning from old articles and magazines (very hard to find) and one book with families, which me and my friend borrowed and copied... Can't wait the time I'll find the way how to buy books from abroad! I forgot - I have a translation of Franco Varola (also rare...), but it's sooo little... I'd LOVE to have something like "From Kisber to Rainbows For Life"... Maybe once.... I hope.

Cheers
sai

[saintlyCZ]

parlo: don't know whether you heard it or not, but Darsalam won't run anymore this season. He's injured, something with his tendon, but I don't have any closer informations. That's a speciality of Czech racing press, write a lot and tell nothing However, he's been scratched from all races this season, but it seemes he'll return next year.
To be honest, I'm surprised he stayed healthy so long, as he's so massive horse... And I'm even more surprised there are no stud plans for him. I only hope he won't go to steeplechases Nevertheless... it's a pity he won't race in Arc and so on, but I hope he'll come back.
Cheers
sai

[parlo]

Thanks for information saintlyCZ,

up to now there was no news like this in our racing-press or in the forum chats. But there had been news before the Grosser Preis von Baden that Darsalam missed that race because he hurt on the transport to Baden-Baden.

In the Grosser Preis von Baden he really was missed by the fans because a front-running galloping tactic as in Cologne might have changed the Baden-race completely. So it developed into a sprint over 3 furlongs with the ninth and last only 6 ½ lengths behind the winner in a slow 2:34,4 min.

A confirmation of the Cologne form by Darsalam would have been a fine feature of the autumn-racing season. So I’m sorry and hope he will recover and run again next season. Best wishes to him!