Moon rising ahead of Grosser Preis von Baden bid

Molly Hunter
August 30, 2024 3:57 pm

Last year’s German Derby winner gunning for more Group One glory.

Fantastic Moon will bid to go one better than his sire in the 154th Grosser Preis von Baden on Sunday.

The colt, trained by Sarah Steinberg, is by Sea The Moon, who was second in the 2014 renewal of this contest as an odds-on favourite.

Fantastic Moon followed in the footsteps of his father when winning the German Derby at Hamburg last season.

His three-year-old season also included a second-placed run in the Group One Grosser Dallmayr-Preis and a Prix Niel victory before he contested the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and came home in 11th place.

This term, he was runner-up in a Listed event at Hoppegarten when making his seasonal debut before a disappointing run in the Prix Ganay at Longchamp in April.

He bounced back to take the Group Two Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft at Cologne on his next outing and remained in good form when beaten only a length to finish second again in the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis.

Those runs have led him to the Grosser Preis von Baden at Baden-Baden on Sunday, where he will face five rivals at Group One level.

The field includes one English-trained runner in William Haggas’ Dubai Honour, a true globetrotter who has brought home the goods from various jurisdictions throughout his career.

Fantastic Moon is owned by Liberty Racing, whose founder Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten said: “We have good ground here in Baden-Baden, it’s summertime and it’s 30 degrees, so we hope we’ll get his best ground.

“The race is not easy, we have a good field with a colt by Alderflug called Narrativo in the race.

“Dubai Honour is a multiple Group One winner, so it’s not going to be easy to win, but we hope he will run a good race and improve a little bit from him last run.

“He was second in a Group One, so we hope now we can win the 154th Grosser Preis von Baden.”