ex sa horse wins in germany

war artist has just won at baden baden

Great win, Now owned by Rupert Plersch who has some other connections with SA racing and also owns another ex-SA horse TIZA.

Well done, missed that one!

War Artist triumphant in Germany's top sprint


WAR ARTIST's long wait for a first northern hemisphere victory finally came to an end when the former South African star landed Germany's most prestigious sprint, the Group 2 Bestwetten.de Goldene Peitsche, at Baden-Baden on Sunday.


After series of honourable efforts in Britain, the James Eustace-trained six-year-old found his way into the number one spot thanks to a powerful late move under AndreasSuborics. Fellow Brit Lesson In Humility was never able to land a telling blow and finished a below par fourth.

Eustace, whose stable star was winning for the first time since taking the Group 1 Mercury Sprint at Durban in July 2007, said: "We tried exaggerated waiting tactics on him for the first time and they seemed to work out really well.

"He'll go back to five furlongs now and use the Prix du Petit-Couvert in two weeks time as a prep for the Abbaye. If all goes well, we hope to go to Hong Kong in December."

Owner Rupert Plersch, who also won this race with the Suborics-ridden Linngari Suborics in 2006, recently appointed Paul Harley as his racing manager, and Harley added: "We expected him to run well. The ground was too soft for his two recent runs in England but everything was in his favour today."

Lesson in Humility stumbled coming out of the stalls, which probably cost her any chance of justifying 11-10 favouritism.

Owner Michael Nelmes-Crocker said: "Things didn't work out today, but she's fine. She'll go for the Diadem Stakes."

Eddie Pedroza, German champion for the last two years and topping the table again this season, broke his collarbone in a fall at Baden-Baden on Saturday and is expected to be out for a month. Terry Hellier, who won the race, received a six-day ban for causing the fall.