By Emma Berry
Among the European nations, it may well be Germany that gets racing back up and running first, and two men who will be extra pleased to see it resume are Dr Stefan Oschmann and his bloodstock advisor Holger Faust.
Through his Darius Racing operation, Oschmann is the owner of the 2019 Horse of the Year in Germany, the unbeaten Rubaiyat (Fr) (Areion {Ger}), who is now favourite for the G2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen (German 2000 Guineas).
The colt, who beat his elders to the title after his faultless juvenile campaign which saw him notch four wins, including two at group level, was bought by Faust for €26,000 at the BBAG Yearling Sale. But the agent has known him for a lot longer than that as Rubaiyat was bred by his parents Bruno and Michaela, who started Gestüt Karlshof back in 1990.
“Rubaiyat is doing fine and he was supposed to run his first race this year on 27 Apr., which is the G3 Dr Busch Memorial over a mile at Krefeld, but the meeting has been cancelled because of coronavirus. The race, which is a trial for the German Guineas, should now take place be on 10 May,” says Faust.
Rubaiyat, who is trained by Henk Grewe, is out of the Lomitas (GB) mare Representera (GB), a winner herself over 10 furlongs and a half-sister to the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Tin Horse (Fr) (Sakhee). The mare was sold by the Fausts in 2017 and she died last year, not only just as her son became the German Horse of the Year but also in the same season that her then 3-year-old daughter Rose Flower (Ger), by the former Karlshof resident Dabirism (Fr), won the Listed Prix Amandine for Alessandro Botti.
“Rubaiyat's dam is now sadly dead but she has a 2-year old gelding by Kamsin (Ger), who is also with Henk Grewe, and there is also a yearling by Jukebox Jury (Ire),” Faust adds.
Faust, who operates at the sales as HFTB Agency, has been buying horses for Darius Racing since 2014 with some notable success. In those subsequent seasons the team has enjoyed eight group winners, two of them Group 1 winners, as well as seven listed winners from just over 90 horses in training.
“Dr Oschmann is a lovely man and a real horseman. If ever there is bad news he takes it as a gentleman and he really loves the sport,” Faust says.
Happily during that time there has been plenty of good news to soften any blows, not least when Oschmann celebrated victory in the G1 Deutsches Derby of 2016 with Isfahan (Ger) (Lord Of England {Ger}). He too was bought by HFTB Agency at the BBAG Sale for €35,000.
“Isfahan is now standing at our partner stud Ohlerweiherhof and he has his first 2-year-old runners this year,” reports Faust. “He has a good selection of horses in training with the likes of Henk Grewe, Andreas Wohler, Waldemar Hickst and Andreas Suborics. Dr Oschmann also has eight 2-year-olds by him and we're really looking forward to seeing his first runners on the track.”
Along with Rubaiyat's victories in the G3 Preis der Winterfavoriten and G2 Gran Criterium last season, Oschmann was also represented by Group 3 winner Alounak (Fr) (Camelot {GB}), who was subsequently runner-up in the GI Pattison Canadian International, and Donjah (Ger) (Teofilo {Ger}), winner of the G2 Gran Premio del Jockey Club. Respectively they were crowned Champion Older Horse in Germany and Champion 3-year-old Filly. Alounak has subsequently been sold to King Power Racing and is now in training in Britain with Andrew Balding with a Melbourne Cup campaign in mind.
“I am focused on finding good German horses—stayers, usually—for other countries and I've sold some to Australia, to the US and to Asia,” says Faust.
Closer to home, he is looking forward to seeing how the market responds to the first yearlings of Gestüt Karlshof's Australian-born stallion Counterattack (Aus) this season. The Group 3-winning sprinter who was also runner-up to Redzel (Aus) in the G1 Doomben 10,000, is bred on the same cross as leading sire Snitzel (Aus).
He says, “He's by Redoute's Choice (Aus) out of a Snippets (Aus) mare and it's great to have some of that Danehill blood coming to Germany because there's not much of it here.”
He adds, “In Germany the breeding season is moving in a normal way. I don't see any difference. We can still send the horses to England, Ireland and France and I don't think there will be any problems now.
“The racing is supposed to start on May 1. Of course we will start without the public and the problem is that we will not have full prize-money. It will need to be cut by 30 or 40%. It has been a nightmare and I hope the nightmare will end by the summer.”
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