German Industry Visit – May 2010
Second Year Trainees
Clodagh Kavanagh accompanied the second year trainees on a two day visit to Germany on May 30th and 31st. The group travelled from Dublin early on Sunday morning and attended a race meeting at Krefeld, near Dusseldorf where they saw the Group 3 Groβer Ehrmann-Steher-Cup, won by Tres Rock Danon (FR). That evening they were joined for dinner in Dusseldorf by Frank Dorff of Gestut Rottgen, Dr. Weinberger, veterinarian, Christian van der Recke, trainer, and Daniel Delius, Tattersalls German representative, auctioneer and journalist.
On Monday morning the group visited trainer Peter Schiergen at his impressive new training facility at Cologne racecourse. The group watched the two year olds canter and Peter then showed them his top horses who will contend in some of the German Classics this year. Following a good breakfast with Peter the group then went to Baron von Ullmann’s Gestut Schlenderhan where they met with Gebhart Aphelt. They saw some mares and foals in the beautiful surroundings of the stud and also the leading stallion, Monsun. Gebhart introduced the group to the private trainer Jens Hirschberger and they watched him supervise a lot of two year olds in light exercise. The training facility and gallops were world class. The group then moved on to meet Frank Dorff at Gestut Rottgen where they were shown some mares and foals and the stallions Kallisto and Soldier Hollow. Afterwards they were joined by the general manager of Gestut Rottgen, Mr. Robert Niederpruem for some food and drinks.
The trainees enjoyed meeting so many industry professionals, visiting the studs and training facilites and learning about German bloodstock and racing.