Palladium team considering familiar path for German Derby victor

Fantastic Moon route could be employed again by Liberty Racing.

Palladium could continue to follow in the footsteps of Fantastic Moon after keeping the German Derby trophy in the hands of owners Liberty Racing.

The syndicate, run by Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten, enjoyed a special day last season when the latter horse landed the Group One contest for trainer Sarah Steinberg.

He would go on to take the Group Two Prix Niel at ParisLongchamp when lining up a bid for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, where he was not disgraced by a six-and-a-half-length defeat.

Unlike Fantastic Moon, who went to the German Derby already a multiple Group race winner, Palladium was not proven at the level and was therefore a rank outsider in Hamburg.

Trained by Henk Grewe and ridden by German-born jockey Thore Hammer Hansen, the Gleneagles colt benefited from a bold move in the home straight as he abandoned his spot on the inner rail to make for the far side of the track.

There he found a clear passage and galloped home in total isolation to claim the Group One contest by a neck from Markus Klug’s Borna.

“It was amazing, it’s a miracle!” said Baumgarten.

“It was a wonderful day. We were very relaxed before the race because if you’re an outsider it’s much easier to feel the atmosphere and the crowd.

“Two hundred metres before the line, boom, that was amazing.”

Of the decision to run down the stands rail in the home straight, Baumgarten added: “We decided in the parade ring, with the trainer, that we would try it. We were outsiders so we could not lose, we decided to go straight to the outside rail.

“That was a good move, Thore did it well – he gave him a brilliant, world-class ride from position 20 in the starting gate.

“Two hundred metres before the line, we started to shout and with 50 shareholders it was loud enough for the horse to hear.”

Palladium could now head down the same path as Fantastic Moon last season, with the Prix Niel mentioned as a possible destination at Longchamp in September.

“We will give him time to relax and reset, he is a good stayer and perhaps he will go the same way as Fantastic Moon, to the Prix Niel,” said Baumgarten.

“We’re not sure, perhaps he could go to a big stayers’ race in the UK, we’re not sure at this moment.”

As for Fantastic Moon, who returned to form to win the Group Two Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft at Cologne after two prior beaten runs this season, the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis beckons.

The four-year-old was second in the contest last year and will aim to go one better, after which the Juddmonte International could be on the agenda along with another tilt at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Baumgarten added: “We go to Munich for a Group One over 2000 metres, the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis, he was second last year to Nations Pride in this race.

“We will try to win it, after that we will decide what we do, the Arc route or perhaps he will come to York.

“We gave him a nomination for York, we will decide after Munich.

“We have two wonderful horses and that’s amazing, we are so thankful. It’s a dream, Liberty Racing, it’s amazing.”

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