Mhe more than 22 flight hours lie between the racecourse at Grafenberg in Düsseldorf and Flemington Racecourse in the Australian state of Victoria. And yet the Melbourne Cup, the most important gallop race Down Under, played a central role for the main actors of the 164th Henkel Prize of Diana, the German mare derby – for trainers, owners, advisors and also for the jockey of the winner .
Only Tuscany Belle, the real star of the test for three-year-old mares over 2200 meters, which was generously endowed with 500,000 euros in prize money, was unimpressed by the international connections. As well as the fact that the bettors didn’t trust her: “She didn’t run like an 18 to 1 outsider, did she?” joked her rider, the Australian Kerrin McEvoy, after the narrow start-finish victory in front of the mares Wagnis and milady. “She’s a lovely little mare.” And part of a plan that worked perfectly.
Soft spot for German thoroughbred breeding
Thoroughbred agent Ronald Rauscher was specifically looking for a starter in the classic mare race for his long-standing client, the Australian Bloodstock gallop syndicate. Australian Owners Association Directors Luke Murrell and Jamie Lovett have racked up more than 700 victories worldwide. They have a soft spot for German thoroughbred breeding – even before they won the Melbourne Cup in partnership with the stallion Protectionist bred by Christoph Berglar in 2014.
Rauscher found what he was looking for in Tuscany Belle, bred in France by Munich bookmaker Simon Springer, who won a listed race in Düsseldorf in May. She moved from trainer Marian Falk Weißmeier from Mülheim an der Ruhr to Andreas Wöhler at the Ravensberg stud near Gütersloh. After all, this protectionist had looked after and was the first German coach to win the renowned Melbourne Cup. Wöhler is a specialist in the price of the Diana. It was his sixth success at the mare classic since 1991.
“Toskana Belle has developed tremendously over the past four weeks and after last week’s final training session we were able to register her with a clear conscience,” said the trainer. The late registration cost 50,000 euros – the prize money was 300,000 euros. “With both of my stable jockeys on lockdown right now, it was fortunate that Kerrin was around,” Wohler said. “I was pleased that Andreas called,” said McEvoy, who was at Ascot, England, for an international jockey competition on Saturday.
Early in his career, the 41-year-old won the Melbourne Cup at the turn of the millennium. This earned him a long-standing commitment to the Godolphin gallop empire of the Emir of Dubai, Sheikh Muhammad Bin Raschid Al Maktoum. During this time, he won three Group 1 races in Germany, including the Grand Prix of Baden twice with Warrsan (2004 and 2005).
Two more Melbourne Cup triumphs followed: in 2016 with Almandin, bred by Gestüt Schlenderhan, and in 2018 with Cross Counter for his former employer Goldolphin. McEvoy, who grew up in Streaky Bay, a community of 1000 near Adelaide, comes from a racing family. The father was a jockey, as were three of his brothers. And he is the brother-in-law of Michelle Payne, who became the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015.
The race tactics simply failed: McEvoy let Tuscany Belle canter from the front, she was already in the lead at the start and won the 2200 meter race in a new record time of 2 minutes and 11.21 seconds.