Soldiering on up

Soldier Hollow

Photos by marc Ruehl

Solidering on up

HELMUT VON FINCK bought Soldier Hollow as a yearling in the 2001 Tattersalls October sales with the idea of one day running him in the Deutsches Derby. Sent to Cologne to be trained by Peter Schiergen, Soldier Hollow won on his debut and the following year enjoyed an equally promising start to the Classic season.

At that point, everything was going as planned and his owner had every right to start dreaming about the Derby. However, on Soldier Hollow’s next start in the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennan (German 2,000 Guineas), where he was sent off the hot favourite, he produced a rather lacklustre run in fourth.

The result was considered too bad to be true and shortly after it was discovered that he was suffering from colitis.

The Deutches Derby dream was over and Soldier Hollow was left fighting for his life. Many anxious moments followed, but Soldier Hollow showed his trademark fighting spirit and slowly but surely recovered. Liz Price chats to owner-breeder Helmet von Finck and trainer Andre Fabre about the talented Soldier Hollow, such a consistent sourch of quality middle-distance performers

It was nearly a year before von Finck would see the son of In The Wings run again, but when he finally did return to the competition at the age of four, he showed that he had lost none of his ability.

Underestandably, he was bit rusty on his first couple of starts, but the winning thread was soon picked up again.

It was the moment he was stepped up to Group 1 company in the Premio Roma that he revealed himself as the champion his owner always thought he was.

Over the next three years Soldier Hollow won three more Group 1 races and will always be remembered as the last horse to beat Manduro, the world’s top-rated racehorse of 2007, after going neck to neck to the line with the Godolphin runner in one of the most thrilling finishes of the Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp.

Von Finck, who got involved in horseracing more than 30 years ago when he chanced upon a race meeting in his hometown of Munich, was rightfully proud of his little horse, who might not have had the chance to prove himself in the German Derby but who was bursting with courage, power and obviously had a heart as big as a lion.

He was still going strong at the age of seven when he took Munich’s Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis, it was nevertheless decided that the time had come to call an end to a hugely successful career and Soldier Hollow was retired to stud at Gestüt Röttgen.

Like many stallions he got off to a rather inconspicuous start, but after his first crop son Pastorius won the Deutsches Derby in 2012, his popularity soared and by the time Weltstar, another of his sons, won the Derby in 2018, he had been leading sire in Germany for two years.

“Obviously, Pastorius and Weltstar didn’t carry my colours, but I have found more pleasure in watching his sons and daughters succeed

“I think every owner wants to win the Derby,” von Finck, who came agonisingly close to winning the Deutsches Derby in 2018 with Destino, naturally a son of Soldier Hollow. He was beaten just a neck by Weltstar.

“I still would like to win it,” he laughs. “But, in a way, I have already won the Derby thanks to Soldier Hollow’s progeny. Obviously, Pastorius and Weltstar didn’t carry my colours, but I have found more pleasure in watching his sons and daughters succeed at the racecourse than winning those races myself, breeding horses is extremely satisfying and I really enjoy it.”

Von Finck, who in 2000 purchased Gestüt Park Wiedingen, nestled in the heart of the Lüneburg Heath, near Hamburg, the home of the Derby, was a bit of a pioneer in the German breeding industry – he bought two mares from the Northern Dancer bloodline at Keeneland and brought them back to Germany.

“I have been very lucky with the female line of horses that I have bought,” admits the colourful owner who has always liked to do things differently to everyone else.

“I had bought horses before in France and in England, as well as in Baden-Baden, but the acquisition of these mares was the true birth of my breeding operation.

“I just fell in love with those two mares, simply because they were chestnuts, which I adore, and also because they were by Northern Dancer.

“It was love at first sight and Diana Dance, who was brilliant on the racetrack, unfortunately died early at stud, while Fabula Dancer was not very good on the track but she produced Flamingo Road, who won the Pres der Diana (G2) and finished placed in three Group 1 races.

“However, I was very lucky, Diana Dance’s second foal was a filly named Diana’s Quest whom I kept. She who produced Divya, the dam of Destino and of Dschingis Secret, who finished an unlucky sixth in the Arc de Triomphe to Enable and is now standing at stud in France.”

SUCCESS IN THE WORLD OF RACING and breeding is rarely immediate, but over the years von Finck has learnt that patience and persistence can go a long way.

In the beginning, he was a bit disheartened when Soldier Hollow, whose fee was just €3,000 when he started his new career at Gestüt Röttgen, the home of the 1975 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Star Appeal, was not greeted with more enthusiasm by German and international breeders.

After an initial rush, his book dried up over the next two years and it took the arrival of Pastorius and a move to Gestüt Auenquelle that lies at the feet of the Wiehengebirge, a little mountain range in North RhineWestphalia, to put him on the path that would turn him into the leading sire in Germany.

“I bought Soldier Hollow 20 years ago at the sales for 75,000gns,” remembers Von Finck, who counts Soldier Hollow’s third place in the Arlington Million as one of his most memorable experiences in his life as an owner.

“There were two horses I was interested in, one was quite big and the other was on the smaller side – in the end, fortunately, I went for the smaller one.

“Just like the mares I have bought, at stud he took some time to get going. It is typically German to be a bit on the cautious side, so while he had plenty of mares to cover in his first season, the breeders then waited to see what he would bring before sending him more.

“In the midst of it we had the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008, so yes, it would be fair to say that he struggled a bit during that period. But once he had Pastorius, he became very popular, especially since he regularly produced Group winners, even when he didn’t have a full book of mares.”

Last year Soldier Hollow stood for a fee of €30,000, but this season Soldier Hollow’s fee has been listed as private.

Andre Fabre

Photo by Debbie Burt

He covers between 70 and 100 mares, which now come to him from both Germany and further afield.

One of the biggest supporters of Soldier Hollow is French trainer André Fabre, who recently saddled the three-year-old filly Pelligrina, owned by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani, to win the Group 3 Prix de Royaumont.

Fabre said: “Soldier Hollow is a son of In The Wings, who for me was one of the best horses I have ever trained and like In The Wings, Soldier Hollow had a real turn of foot. “He is a good stallion, one of Europe’s leading sires. I have recommended Soldier Hollow to my owners and will always support him by sending him a mare. He has a lot of class. He is not big, which is exactly what you want.”

PELLIGRINA, who is out of Pearls Or Passion, a daughter of Monsun, is currently unbeaten in two starts and her handler added: “She had a little accident and was operated on the knee. But she is doing well and is back in training. We shall wait for the autumn and the big autumn races. I have entered her in the Prix de Royallieu and she will stay in training at four as she is very good.”

At this year’s Baden-Baden Autumn Yearling Sale, Fabre proved true to his word and bought a filly by the stallion and out of the Lando mare Azalee from Gestut Gorlsdorf.

Today, Soldier Hollow has established himself as one of the most important sires to come out of Germany.

His sons and daughters have won Classic races and his owner concludes: “Soldier Hollow is a horse of a lifetime. He is a real success story, as he was just as successful on the track as he is at stud.

“I am only a small breeder and for 20 years he has given me so much joy. His offspring all inherit this incredible fighting spirit, his fabulous temperament.

“They will always give their best and will always be involved in the finish. And they can win over any distance. He produces milers, as well as stayers. He is a very versatile stallion and I hope he is going to be the leading sire of Germany once more this year.”

Von Finck might not have seen his colours triumph in the Deutsches Derby, but he certainly backed a winner on that autumnal morning at Newmarket when he decided to buy “the little horse with the fighting spirit”.