His career in the racing saddle is slowly coming to an end, but Adrie de Vries once again impressively proved on Sunday at the Munich-Riem racecourse that he is far from being “old hat”. With two nerve-wracking rides, the Dutchman, who has been one of the best in his field in Germany for decades, secured the main races of the day in front of around 13,500 enthusiastic spectators who celebrated a huge coffee party with the long-standing partner of the Munich racing club Dallmayr. The 55-year-old de Vries, who celebrated his birthday the day before, gave himself the best belated presents. In the Grand Dallmayr Prize, a race in the European category Group I over 2,000m with prize money of 155,000 euros, he won with the five-year-old Calif, defeating the 2023 Derby winner, Fantastic Moon, who, like last year, came second in the Munich summer highlight.
“This is a special victory,” said de Vries, “because I chose Calif for my boss Fawzi Nass and Sheikh Nasser and I am delighted that he has now achieved Group I.” Calif was originally trained in Germany, but was sold to Victorious Racing last year and moved to the stables of Carlos and Yann Lerner in France. The camp of second-placed Fantastic Moon, who is trained locally by Sarah Steinberg, was also not dissatisfied. Fantastic Moon put in a strong performance on ground that was unsuitable for the four-year-old stallion. “In the last 200 metres, however, the ground became too soft for Fantastic Moon. If the ground had been good, I would probably have passed him,” said his regular rider Rene Piechulek.
Whispering Dream after a dream ride by Adrie de Vries
The outstanding supporting program of the Dallmayr race day included the Konrad Werner Wille Memorial, a listed race for three-year-old and older mares over a fast 1,400m with prize money of 25,000 euros. The victory went to France, not unexpectedly. Adrie de Vries showed a lot of patience and strong nerves on the four-year-old Whispering Dream. From second to last place in the field of twelve, de Vries slowly pushed the mare forward to win very easily in the end. “Trainer Henri-Alex Pantall told me to wait for her because she sometimes gets a bit eager at the start of the race.” It was Pantall’s first success in this country this season, having already won many races in Germany.
The top handicap of the day, the Dallmayr Prodomo Trophy, went to Cologne trainer Henk Grewe. He secured the handicap I over 1,600m with the five-year-old mare Koffi Kick, endowed with 20,000 euros. The winning rider was Leon Wolff. The only home win of the day was achieved by Elmos Fire in the Dallmayr Crema d’Oro race over 2,000m. The five-year-old is trained by Karoly Kerekes, whose Riemer colleague Michael Figge took the places behind him with Jacksun and Freibier.
Two wins for Schiergen and Murzabayev
At the start of the race day, champion trainer Peter Schiergen and his top jockey Bauyrzhan Murzabayev were in top form. The duo won the Dallmayr Ethiophia race over 1,400m, the two-year-old race, with the mare Santagada. “We had courage for her because she had trained well,” said Schiergen. “But we didn’t necessarily expect her to win on her debut.” Second place went to Schiergen’s protégé Royal Spirit. And in the Dallmayr Gran Verde race over 1,600m, Schiergen/Murzabayev took another victory with the three-year-old Wazlaw. The owner is the president of the Munich Racing Club, Michael Motschmann. “It’s a shame that I only had one starter today, it could have continued like this.”
Some of the races were broadcast on the World Pool of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and on the French betting company PMU, making them accessible to millions of viewers.
