Germany: German Derby winner Sisfahan’s trip to the Saudi Cup meeting has been scrapped and the colt is out until the second half of the season after picking up an injury in training.
The Henk Grewe-trained four-year-old was being prepared for the $2.5 million Red Sea Turf Handicap on the February 26 card in Riyadh. “He needs to stop training now for six weeks and then he can start all over again,” said Holger Faust, racing manager for Sisfahan’s owners Darius Racing.
“The good thing is, if this is a good thing, we had planned to give him a long break afterwards and had no races in mind for him in May and June so he should start the season in the second part of the year.”
Sisfahan has won two of his seven career starts. After capturing the Deutsches Derby in July last year, he finished a length second to Torquator Tasso, Germany’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, in Germany’s top race, the Grosser Preis von Baden.
He ended the year in California where he finished seventh of 14 in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar and looks set for a similar end-of-year campaign in 2022.
“If he has his first start back in August and does well he will be a horse who could be going for the Arc, but we will wait and see,” said Faust. “The greater focus will be on the German grand prix races.”
He added: “The problem with the Breeders’ Cup was that he couldn’t handle the track. It was a 300-metre straight. Although we knew that before the race, we thought if he got a fast race and a clear run, it might suit him but he was blocked in the last corner.
“That wasn’t the fault of Cristian Demuro but when he wanted to go, all of a sudden he came into traffic and needed to start again in the straight. The race was gone; nobody was disappointed at all with his performance.
“The Red Sea Turf is over 3,000 metres but he is a horse that can run further than 2,400 metres. It won’t be happening now but when he comes back he will be running over 12 furlongs.”
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