After the Grand Allianz Prize of Bavaria, which Junko, named after Andre Fabre, easily won against his assistant, the experts were not entirely unanimous in their assessment of the winner. In Munich, he had quickly taken control under Bauyrzhan Murzabayev, then slowed down and had no problems keeping his opponents at bay in the last 500 m. The German handicapper awarded him 98.5 kg for this performance and Harald Siemen wrote in his column on the Deutscher Galopp website about “the annoyance of the year”, which incidentally did not refer to the winner but to the behavior of the German competitors, who did not want to attack the slacking pilot.

After Junko’s run in Hong Kong last Sunday, one would almost assume that such an attack in Munich would have been a complete failure. The Intello gelding was seen at the back of the field for a long time in the Hong Kong Vase over 2,400 m, which has a prize of EUR 2.85 million. Only in the finish did Maxim Guyon attack from the outside and safely overtook his opponents in the final meters. Junko celebrated his second Group I victory in a row with a strong performance, fully confirming his performance in Munich and giving his owners a bonus of EUR 1.6 million. For trainer Andre Fabre it was the third victory in this race, Maxim Guyon was able to score points for the second time and the gelding was the only European winner on the super race day of the Hong Kong season.

There was great joy at the Munich Racing Club after Junko’s victory, because the confirmation of the performance from Munich also means that the 98.5 kg GAG mark should also hold up internationally. This should also have a positive effect on the rating of the Grand Allianz Prize of Bavaria.