Andreas Suborics is pinning his German Derby hopes to a little colt with courage who will have to overcome the widest gate of all at Hamburg on Sunday if he is to win the mile and a half classic.
Name Lord weighs in at a slight 460kg but showed courage and ability when second last time at Dussedorf, running on strongly to close the gap on the breakaway winner Delgardo to a length. That was over a mile and three furlongs, and Suborics believes the extra distance will see a different outcome this time.
“He’s not the biggest horse but has a big heart, a very nice character, and he’s quite a tough horse. He’ll really stay the trip, I’m sure about that,” Suborics told Idol Horse.
“Last time in Dusseldorf Name Lord was a bit unlucky. At halfway he lost his position but he finished the race really fast, and I think this time over 100 metres longer, we can beat Delgardo.”
But the field of 18 also includes the Karl Burke-trained Convergent from England, a Newtown Anner Stud homebred – like Burke’s 2024 German 1,000 Guineas heroine Darnation – that placed third in the G3 Chester Vase last time, behind the dual Derby winner Lambourn and the horse that was second at Epsom and third at the Curragh, Lazy Griff.
Then there are the horses that have been mixing it in Germany’s domestic trials. The free-running Italian galloper Juwelier just held off Path Of Soldier in the G3 Japan Racing Association Derby Trial at Baden-Baden; Zuckerhut defeated Hochkonig a length in the G2 Union-Rennen last month; and the filly Lady Charlotte is two from two after winning the G3 Diana Trial by a neck in early June. No filly has won the Derby since Borgia in 1997.
“The filly can be the key in the race,” Suborics said. “She’s unbeaten, she’s won two races and she’s had an easy preparation. Her last race, she won more easily than it looked because I saw her after the race and she looked really nice, she had no stress at all.
“If I had to pick three horses without mine, it would be Zuckerhut, Hochkonig and Lady Charlotte,” he added, but noted that eight-time Derby-winning jockey Andrasch Starke is due to partner Path Of Soldier from the Peter Schiergen yard, rather than the trainer’s Zuckerhut, which has Cristian Demuro booked to ride.
Starke is chasing a second classic win this year after his success in Tokyo at the end of May in the G1 Yushun Himba, the Japanese Oaks, on Kamunyak.
Suborics, who won the German Derby as a jockey in 2006 and also rode in Hong Kong – as well as short stints in Japan – in his time, hopes his jockey Hugo Boutin will have his task aided by rain falling on the Hamburg track before the race. But regardless of if that happens, he has been pleased with Name Lord’s build-up into the race and the experience he has gained.
“He had a nice two -year-old campaign but of course the distances were just too short for him, but because of the class he showed last year he ran three or four times,” the trainer said of the Gestut Wittekindshoff homebred.
“The preparation this time, the plan was always to run two times before the Derby and it was a really promising run last time. But he has gate 18 now and that is not going to be easy. What we really need for his best is some rain: the forecast is saying there’s some rain coming on Sunday, and that will be much better for him because if the rain comes the draw is not as important at Hamburg, but on fast ground it will not be easy for him.
“Hamburg has a maximum of 20 runners,” he continued. “But with just 18 this time it should make it a little bit easier, but it’s always a tough race. There is always a lot of pace in the race and a lot of fighting for position. All the horses are prepared for this race.”
G1 Preakness Stakes-winning jockey Umberto Rispoli is jocked up to ride Juwelier, trained by Alessandro and Giuseppe Botti, but that colt is first due to go through Deauville’s Arqana Summer Sale via online bids. ∎
