By Sean Cronin
Led out unsold at 140,000gns when attending last year's Tattersalls October Book 1 fixture, Gestut Fahrhof's hitherto untried homebred 2-year-old filly Habana (Ger) (Kingman {GB}–Hargeisa {GSW-Ity, MGSP-Fr & GSP-Ger}, by Speightstown) instead illuminated Cologne's Weidenpescher venue with a scintillating performance over 6 1/2 furlongs in Sunday's HSBS Catering Maiden Preis. Her year-older half-brother Huancayo (Ger) (Frankel {GB}) had provided a telling clue with a three-length debut triumph at Hannover just two days before. Habana was the lone filly in a field of five and was under a firm hold behind all four rivals through the early strides before tanking forward at halfway. Powering to the fore hard on the steel with 350 metres remaining, the well-backed 13-10 favourite settled the contest in an instant when quickening clear passing the furlong marker and accelerated again before gearing down to easily outclass Muhalif (Ger) (Lawman {Fr}) by an impressive 4 3/4 lengths.
“I actually wanted to wait a bit longer before committing and, if anything, we were in front a bit too soon, but she did that very well indeed,” said winning jockey Eddy Pedroza. Habana holds an eyecatching entry in Baden-Baden's G3 Zukunftsrennen, over seven furlongs at the end of August, and connections will take time to ponder options according to Gestut Fahrhof's Simon Stokes, who added, “We already have a high opinion of her and we're now going to discuss plans on how to proceed in a considered manner.”
Habana 🐎 2yo f, Kingman @JuddmonteFarms – Hargeisa (Speightstown), bred & owned by Gestüt Fährhof 🇩🇪 @GestutFahrhof trained by Andreas Wöhler 🇩🇪 @RennstallAW breaks her maiden on debut over 1300m at Weidenpesch, Cologne 🇩🇪 in Race 1 pic.twitter.com/rV8d37H8WQ
— Ernur İnanç (@ErnurInanc) July 10, 2022
Habana is the second of three foals produced by G3 Premio Primi Passi victrix Hargeisa (Speightstown), herself the leading representative of Listed Omnibus S. winner Hasay (GB) (Lomitas {GB}). Hasay, in turn, is the leading performer out of Listed Criterium du Fonds Europeen de l'Elevage victrix and GIII Matchmaker S. runner-up Saralea (Fr) (Sillery), herself a half-sister to the stakes-winning trio Deauville (Fr) (Groom Dancer), La Kaldoun (Fr) (Kaldoun {Fr}) and Solidoun (Fr) (Kaldoun {Fr}). Saralea is also kin to the dam of G3 Prix de la Jonchere-winning sire Kaldou Star (GB) (Kaldoun {Fr}) (Caro {Ire}). Hargeisa has a weanling filly by Pinatubo (Ire) to come.
1st-Cologne, €7,000, Mdn, 7-10, 2yo, 6 1/2fT, 1:18.77, gd.
HABANA (GER), f, 2, by Kingman (GB)
1st Dam: Hargeisa (GSW-Ity, MGSP-Fr & GSP-Ger), by Speightstown
2nd Dam: Hasay (GB), by Lomitas (GB)
3rd Dam: Saralea (Fr), by Sillery
1ST-TIME STARTER. O/B-Stiftung Gestut Fahrhof (GER); T-Andreas Wohler. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, €4,200. Sales history: 140,000gns RNA Ylg '21 TATOCT. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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