HUGE RUN BY NIGHT MAGIC

NIGHT MAGIC (41) produced the best run by a three year old filly all season on my speed ratings when powering clear of her rivals in the Preis der Diana (German Oaks). This long striding, scopey sort set a strong pace and had all her rivals in trouble fully half a mile from the finish. She turned into the straight well ahead and proceeded to draw further and further ahead. The commentator's estimate of six lengths looked more accurate than the official margin of four and a half.

Night Magic has improved markedly since front running tactics have been tried on her. I like her chances of becoming the second German filly in a row to take the Prix L'opera next time out. Lady Marian won the race last year after finishing second in the Preis der Diana and Night Magic is surely going to enhance the reputation of the big German race even further. I see her developing into one of Europe's top performers of either sex next year.

For those of you interested in stats I should note that there is an interesting one concerning the Preis der Diana. Night Magic's win means that fourteen of the last sixteen winners of the race reached the first three in the Diana Trial at Mulheim or the German 1000 Guineas.

GETAWAY IS STILL A STAR

I confess that I was surprised when Andre Fabre signed that contract to train almost exclusively for Sheikh Mohammed. It meant he had to drop the incredibly successful partnership he’d forged with the top German stud farms.

The German horses Fabre trained enabled him to beat Aidan O’Brien in terms of prize money in one recent season and run him very close in another. And I dare say the German horse he regrets losing most is GETAWAY (40) who has just won the Group 1 Deutschland-Preis for new trainer Jens Hirschberger at Dusseldorf.

For a long way it looked like Getaway wasn’t going to get a run. But in the last furlong Scandinavian champion Appel Au Maitre drifted out slightly leaving a gap that Getaway surged through in double quick time.

Getaway was only given one crack of the whip and won this comfortably. He’s earned speed ratings as big as 42 from me in the past and would have done so again I’m sure if only he’d gotten a run sooner.

My read of Getaway is that he’s best fresh. This was his second run of the year. But Hirschberger says he’s only had the horse for a few weeks. So I’m betting he wasn’t fully fit when second on his first run for him and will revert to running best off a break after this. He’s won the last five times he’s come into a race off a break of five weeks.

Watching Getaway hug the rails around this tight course and then produce his trademark finishing burst had me thinking how well he’d be suited to the Breeders’ Cup Turf rather than the Arc. I know it would cost a lot to supplement him for that race but I think it would be worth it.

Meanwhile there is the Grosser Preis von Baden where Getaway will clearly be the one they all have to beat.

If there was a horse that could beat Getaway in the Grosser Preis that ran behind him at Dusseldorf I’d bet on it being KAMSIN (38).

Kamsin set a searching pace before getting outrun in the last furlong and a half. I fancied him because I believed the official going report of yielding. But race times indicate the ground was actually on the fast side of good.

Kamsin is little better than a Group 3 class horse on fast ground. But on genuinely yielding or softer ground he’s something special. He’s won all three times he’s encountered such a surface - including in the German Derby and the Grosser Preis von Baden, Germany’s two biggest races. If he gets his ground again at Baden-Baden he should be tough to beat.