Pastorius Pounces Late to Win German Derby

Longshot Pastorius swept past favored Novellist near the wire to capture the Sparda 143 Deutsches Derby-German Derby (Ger-I) by a half-length at Hamburg July 1.

Dismissed by the bettors at odds of 31-1, the son of Soldier Hollow wound up giving both trainer Mario Hofer and jockey Thierry Hellier their first wins in the German classic.

At the start it was Mano Diao that went to the lead. He was soon joined by Macao, and those two led the field of 14 through the early stages of the race. Frankie Dettori, who had flown in to ride Black Arrow for trainer Andreas Wohler, had his colt racing just behind the front runners, while both Novellist and Pastorius were settled at the rear of the field.

The field began to bunch up as they entered the home straight, with Dettori making the first move with Black Arrow. The pair charged past the front runners and into the lead, but several challengers were hot on their heels.

Novellist and Pastorius were closing ground swiftly on the outside and swept past Black Arrow and into the lead. The pair raced in tandem briefly until Pastorius shifted gears late and pulled away while crossing the wire a narrow winner.

Novellist edged Girolamo   by a short head to hold on to the runner-up spot, with Baltic Rock another length back in fourth. Black Arrow ran on at one pace and finished fifth.

Final time for the 12 furlongs was 2:32.23 over the good going.

Pastorius was bred in Germany by Franz Prinz von Auersperg and Florian Haffa, and races for Stall Antanando. He is out of Princess Li, a winning daughter of Monsun.