un Tattenham Corner everything still seemed possible: At the famous corner of the Derby racecourse in Epsom, south of London, you first go down the hill before slowly climbing up the 600 meter long finish line. The four-year-old stallion Tünnes, who arrived from Germany, was in the perfect position to attack. But his rider Rene Piechulek quickly had to realize that the winner of the Bavarian Grand Prix last November didn’t have enough liveliness to keep up with the front runners that day. In the end, Tünnes took fourth place in the Coronation Cup, a race in Europe category Group I, just ahead of Hurricane Lane. Owner Holger Renz from Cologne received 26,500 euros for this – almost as much as for a Group III victory in Germany .
The winner, Emily Upjohn, earned more than ten times as much, winning easily ahead of Westover with a lot of speed and remaining almost ten lengths ahead of Tünnes. “It was a small but select field of five,” said Thady Gosden, who trains the mare co-owned by musical author Andrew Lloyd-Webber with his father, John Gosden. For jockey Frankie Dettori it was another success on his farewell tour earlier this year. “She’s a big girl, so I had to prepare her for a long time, but my God, she took off in the end,” said the 52-year-old.
Disturbance of race prohibited by court order
However, the most important race this weekend in Epsom was the Derby, which is reserved for three-year-old horses. It has been held since 1780, and the prize money for the winner alone is the equivalent of more than one million euros. This year, Irish star trainer Aidan O’Brien triumphed for the ninth time with the stallion Auguste Rodine. The derby is still one of the biggest sporting events in Britain, even if it has lost popularity. The start was brought forward by a good two hours to avoid the TV competition in the English Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United. The announced rail strikes and animal welfare protests caused even more headaches for the organizer Jockey Club.
For one problem, 1000 additional parking spaces were created at short notice, with the other, according to the Jockey Club, “a detailed security concept” and a court order that prohibited disruptions to the race helped. That worked to a large extent, the race was not delayed in contrast to the Grand National in early April. But there were more than 30 arrests in total, one activist got onto the track during the derby but was quickly arrested.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that no events were being held at Churchill Downs racecourse in Louisville, United States, following the death of 12 horses within a month. The operator announced this on Friday. Because of the accumulation of cases, security measures should be checked “in cooperation and consultation with experts”.
From Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, the upcoming races will initially be moved to the Ellis Park circuit in Henderson. It has already been decided that horses will only be allowed to start four times in eight weeks and will be banned from participating if their performance is not right. Starting bonuses for trainers will be removed. It is still unclear why so many horses died. “Following a thorough internal review, no single factor was identified as a possible cause and no discernible pattern was discovered that could link the deaths,” the statement said.
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