Lots of sunshine, many spectators, record turnover, and a horse for the future – that’s the brief summary of Saturday’s race day at the Munich-Riem racecourse. “We had 4,000 visitors and a turnover of €75,000 in the V4 bet, more than ever before for this type of bet,” said Managing Director Sascha Multerer of the Munich Racing Club.

The potential star of the future was on display right at the start of the race day. Zuender, trained by Hella Sauer in Düsseldorf, impressed in the MIG Fund opening race over 1,600m for two-year-olds. He won easily by four and a half lengths ahead of Endorphin. “He was very calm today and is certainly not a bad horse,” said winning rider Patrick Gibson with a touch of understatement. Zuender’s next goal could be the traditional Zukunftsrennen (Future Race) as part of the Baden-Baden Grand Week. The stallion already won his debut there in May.

V4 bet is hit 43 times

The best handicap of the day, a €13,000 Handicap II over 2,000m, went, not unexpectedly, to the Riemer Training Center. The six-year-old gelding New Diamond, trained locally by Werner Glanz, won. Ridden by Miguel Lopez, New Diamond won comfortably by one and a half lengths ahead of De La Luna and Westwood. “The good ground allowed him to develop his speed,” Lopez said.

The Lady Horizon race was also part of the V4, which, for the first time in the history of this relatively new betting format, was guaranteed with a €50,000 payout – thanks to a €17,000 jackpot. This jackpot was created at the Dallmayr race day two weeks ago because no one had correctly predicted the four winners in the V4 races.

In addition to New Diamond, the winners in the V4 races were Neyshapur, Emotion, and Philharmonie – all three-year-old mares. The odds for the V4 bet were 1,717.6:1, with the 13.6:1 outsider Philharmonie driving up the payout for the 43 winning bets.

Fleißner ahead in the amateur race

Neyshapur, trained by Henk Grewe, won the 1,600m handicap IV under champion jockey Thore Hammer-Hansen. Emotion, ridden by Martin Seidl and trained by Stefan Richter in Dresden, won the handicap III 2,000m. The Richter/Seidl team had previously scored points with the three-year-old Wariyano in the 2,000m handicap race.

The final V4 race, a IV handicap for amateur riders over 1,400m, remained on-site. Philharmonie’s trainer is Jutta Mayer in Riem. “She’s a hard-working mare; I know her from training,” said amateur rider Claudia Fleißner. “She’s a fine little thing with a wonderful heart.” Trainer Glanz scored another home victory with the six-year-old Quijana Starlet. She won a IV handicap over 2,400m with Rene Piechulek.

After the Bavarian summer holidays, the next race day in Riem is on Thursday, September 18th – in the run-up to Oktoberfest.