Three-year-old thoroughbreds. Patronus best – Polish breeding prevails
When horses became imported to Poland from the West a few years ago, it seemed that the Polish breeding would increasingly disappear. This season has shown, however, that thoroughbreds born in Poland can race with imported horses, even having great pedigrees and purchased for a considerable sum. As many as six domestic breeding horses are found in the top ten of general handicap: Patronus (83.5 kg), Pillar (82), Kundalini (79), Suo (78.5, as of 11.11.13), Kalahari Dream (77.5) and Nechius (76). In terms of sums won, the best turned out to be the three riding horses trained by Andrzej Walicki: the Derby winner Patronus (PLN 282,350), the Oaks winner Kundalini (PLN 189,600) and Emperor Ajeez (PLN 132,400).
Ruler Stakes: Emperor Ajeez ahead of Pillar
TThe latter sparkled in Służewiec in spring. Purchased in Ireland by Kishore Mirpuri and Zbigniew Górski, the stallion won the Miler Race for the Strzegom Award in great style, and then easily the classical Ruler Stakes, beating Pillar, the winter Derby favourite. There was a payback in Iwno over the distance of 2,200 m, where Emperor Ajeez lost to Pillar. Two weeks later, he started in the Austrian Derby – taking the sixth place. In the second part of the season, he took only second places: Kozienice (2,000 m), Moszna (1,600 m) and Criterium (1,300 m).
Patronus wins the Derby under Piotr Piątkowski
Without a doubt, the best horse in his age group was finally Patronus, which after an average career was sold by Andrzej Zieliński to Konstantin Zgare for EUR 30,000. The stallion gave grounds for optimism already during the first start of the new season. Although, it was only the race of Group II, Patronus winning style with strong rivals made an impression. Doubts appeared after his next two performances – fourth place in the race for the Iranda Award and third in the Memorial of J. Jadnaszewski, which was not what we expected. As a result, it was Pillar that started as a strong favourite, while from among highly bet horses there were mentioned Kundalini and Hurricane of Seven, and not Patronus. However, perfectly ridden by Piotr Piątkowski, he won unchallenged, well ahead of Kundalini and Pillar. In the St. Leger, even carrying six kilograms less, he was not able to overcome Camerun, although it seems that Piotr Krowicki finished on it a bit too late. Zgar decided to attract the worldwide famous jockey for the Great Warsaw Race to maximize the chances of success of Patronus. The ordered Irishmen Kieren Fallon was injured at the last moment and on the day of the race the chance to ride the Derby winner was passed to Szczepan Mazur, who originally was supposed to ride on another horse belonging to Zgara, i.e. Frenchie Lebec. The fledgeling jockey did not waste this opportunity. He first reached the winning post, leading Patronus calmly and deliberately and slightly beating Kundalini. The third was Suo. It was the first time in the season that older horses had suffered such a severe defeat with the three-year-olds on a long distance (Kara – fourth, Lucky Peter – fifth, Camerun – sixth).
Andrzej Walicki probably regrets his decision to sell Patronus. He decided to keep the best two-year-old horse of the 2012 season Pillar. The beautiful stallion demonstrated his potential this year as well, however, he did not turn out to be totally successful. He entered the season with success – was second in the Ruler Stakes, then won Iwno in record time (2,200 m – 2’15.1″). An exhaustive run and infection before the race for a blue ribbon left him without the chance to take the fight with Patronus. Finally, Pillar was also defeated by Kundalini and took the third place. But that is not the end of his bad luck. The St. Leger race was not successful for him, in addition he got injured during the incident at the beginning of the finishing straight, and therefore, was excluded from starts till the end of the season. Despite the injury, Pillar showed great heart to fight and managed to finish in the third place, after Camerun and the Derby winner.
Solina: Kundalini
Kundalini, second after Patronus in the Derby and Great Warsaw Race, undoubtedly deserved the title of best mare of the season. Throughout the year, she had only one mishap – sixth place in the race for the Krasne Stud Farm Award. But she won three races, including the Oaks and Solina. The breeding of Kundalini is a great success for Kishori Mirpuri, a businessman so far known mainly of successful purchases of horses at auctions in Ireland.
StarPoker
Another hero of the age group was Star Park, taking part in sprints. Like in the case of Patronus, his celebrity lit up for good during the Derby race, when he won the Memorial of Fryderyk Jurjewicz in a big way and record time (1,600 m – 1’34.3″, improved the previous result of Hard Work by as much as 1.1 sec.). Previously, he was third in the race for the Strzegom Award and Ruler Stakes, and only the seventh in the race for the Haracz Award. As it turned out, a great form of horse chestnut remained longer. He sat a new record three weeks later (1,400 m – 1’22.7″), winning the Syrena Award without any problems. He made up for his unexpected defeat in the race for the Deer Leap Award (Piotr Krowicki led too strongly) with another prestigious success in the race for the Moszna Award. He was fifth in Criterium, but it seems that he had a right to feel exhausted in that season.
The Irish Endorphin and German Wild Lady performed very well throughout the season. The former won the classic race for the Spring Award, and she also scored points in outside-group races, such as Syrena (2) and Moszna (3). Wild Lady fell out of order only once throughout the year, it was in the fall in Wrocław. Except for that, she won the race for the Vistula River Award and was second in the race for the Award of Solina, Oaks and Krasne Stud Farm. In the second part of the season, very high form was reached by Suo, which was sixth in the Derby, and Szarif and Kalahari Dream, which did not sparkle in the spring. Suo finished after Lucky Peter in the running for the Korabia Award, and then was third in the Great Warsaw Race and Pink Pearl Award. In the race for the End-of-Season Award, he beat Szarif, which previously had three wins in a row and took the third place in the race for the “Life of Warsaw” Award. After two victories in handicap races and second place in the competition for the Villars Award, Kalahari Dream sensationally won the Criterium, beating the top sprinters such as Emperor Ajeeza, Inheritor, Hard Bag and Star Poker. It was a huge sensation and the mare moved up to tenth place in the General Handicap.
Suo
In summary, the competition in the Derby age group held in suspense until the end, and the Polish-bred horses dominated over the short and long distances. Kalahari Dream proved in sprints that she is also able to beat the quick Irish stallions Star Poker and Emperor Ajeez. The stars of Patronus and the aforesaid Star Poker, the best on their distances, lit up only on the Gala Derby. Although, older horses were supposed to be too strong for a long time, ultimately the fall belonged to the three-year-old horses and they gained the most prestigious awards: Great Warsaw Race (Patronus), Moszna (Star Poker), Criterium (Kalahari Dream) and the slightly less significant: the Vistula River (Wild Lady), “Life of Warsaw” (They Call Me Red) and Sac-a-Papier (Issachar).
Piechur
