Weltstar

The German breeding industry was dealt a blow this week with the death of 17-year-old Adlerflug (Ger). In 2020, the Gestüt Schlenderhan stallion wrested the German sires' championship from another son of In The Wings (GB), Soldier Hollow (GB), who was runner-up and who had the highest number of winners overall. Soldier Hollow had previously been champion sire in 2016, 2018 and 2019. Adlerflug, whose grandam Alya (Ger) (Lombard {Ger}) was a sister to Allegretta (GB), the dam of Urban Sea (Miswaki), hails directly from the family of Galileo (Ire)...

There can be no better breeding home run than for a mare to produce a Derby winner as her first foal. In the case of Gestüt Röttgen's homebred Wellenspiel (Ger) (Sternkoenig {Ger}), this auspicious entree to her stud career happened not once but twice, with her first two foals both becoming winners of the G1 Deutsches Derby. Windstoss (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}) and his half-brother Weltstar (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) are the product of nine generations of Röttgen breeding, stretching back to the purchase of one of the stud's first mares,...