Comeback Success?

Off the track with a stress fracture since the G1 Epsom Derby, Robert Ng’s early-season pacesetter Success Days (Ire) (Jeremy) stages his return in Sunday’s G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern at Munich. Reveling in the prevalent soft spring ground when winning Leopardstown’s G3 Ballysax S. Apr. 12 and G3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial May 10 over 10 furlongs, the grey sustained his injury when last in the June 6 blue riband and it has been a long road back for Ken Condon’s stable star. Ground conditions are key and his trainer is satisfied that they are suitable. “The track is in good condition. Ideally, we’d have liked a bit more rain but that’s not going to materialize now,” he commented. “He traveled really well and has been here since Thursday. He’s done two canters and everyone has been very happy with him. We’ve got a bit to find with a couple of them, but he gets that age allowance and we’re hoping he’ll give a very good account of himself. We think he’s back to the form he was in during the spring and we think he’s a Group 1 horse–he’s now just got to go out there and show it.”

Among the 3-year-old’s rivals is Jean-Francois Gribomont’s beloved Prince Gibraltar (Fr) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}), who followed a success in the Sept. 6 G1 Grosser Preis von Baden with a respectable seventh in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Oct. 4., while the domestic brigade features Gestut Schlenderhan’s Ito (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}). He has to improve on his latest fourth behind the Grosser Preis von Baden runner-up Nightflower (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) in Cologne’s G1 Preis von Europa over 12 furlongs Sept. 27, but is still lightly-raced and worth another chance of showing the sort of form that saw him win the June 7 G2 Grosser Preis der Badischen Unternehmer in impressive fashion over 11 furlongs.