Sunday's IDEE-sponsored 148th G1 Deutsches Derby at Hamburg is a wide-open affair, with apparently no Sea the Moon (Ger) or Samum (Ger) in evidence and all the main trial winners with interlinking form lining up with very little between them. Attention always turns to Cologne's G2 Oppenheim-Union-Rennen, which was won this year by Stall Reckendorf's Colomano (GB) (Cacique {Ire}) who spearheads a seven-strong Markus Klug offensive on this renewal. Re-opposed by all he beat in that 11-furlong prep on June 11, he may have most to fear from his stablemate, the half-length runner-up Windstoss (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}), who had previously won Dusseldorf's Apr. 9 Listed Derby-Trial. Also from the Klug yard is the third home, Gestut Wittekindshof's Northsea Star (Ger) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), who reversed prior form with the fourth Warring States (Jpn) (Victoire Pisa {Jpn}). The latter, one of two Qatar Racing representatives in this list, had Northsea Star back in fourth when taking the G3 Bavarian Classic over 10 furlongs on soft ground at Munich on May 1, in which Enjoy Vijay (Ger) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and another Klug runner in Kastano (Ger) (Nathaniel {Ire}) split them in second and third.
Unconventionally in this edition, Waldemar Hickst has just the one representative but Darius Racing's Parviz (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) is a valid contender on the evidence of his two-length beating of Sargas (Ire) (Shirocco {Ger}), with Rosenpurpur (Ger) (Pour Moi {Ire}) back in third, in the June 5 Listed Grosser Preis der Hannoverschen Volksbank Derby Trial over 11 furlongs.
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