German trainer Peter Schiergen upbeat over Tunnes chances in Coronation Cup

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Wed May 31, 2023 · 1y ago

German challenger Tunnes is an intriguing contender in what looks a strong field for Friday’s Dahlbury Coronation Cup, the latest leg of the QIPCO British Champions Series, which has attracted five runners headed by Emily Upjohn, Hurricane Lane and Westover.

One definition of the term “tunnes” is that it is colloquial slang in parts of Germany for a male person who is not to be taken too seriously. That cannot be said of the horse Tunnes, who completed a hat-trick of wide margin wins in his native Germany last year with a ten-length romp in the Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Bayern before finishing close up in the Japan Cup, despite a slow start.

Trainer Peter Schiergen needs taking very seriously too, for he is a six-times champion trainer and five-times champion jockey, and he has already enjoyed major success over here, as a previous winner of the Coronation Cup in 2002 with Boreal and then ten years later in the King George with his Prix de l’Arc De Triomphe winner Danedream.

Schiergen said: “Tunnes is very good, so he has not been named correctly! He won his races very easily last year and then when he went to Japan he had trouble at the starting gate. He was in the stalls for a very long time and became nervous.

"He lost the race in the starting gate, but we’ve worked on that at home since and he’s very good now.”

Owner Holger Denz bought Tunnes almost by accident, as he had ceased bidding for the colt when the auctioneer misinterpreted a hand gesture made to a friend while the bidding stood at 38,000 euros.

Denz felt obliged to take Tunnes, whose half-brother Torquator Tasso was just a minor winner at the time, and the purchase price has already been repaid several times over already in prize money alone, and his close relationship with the subsequent Arc winner makes him all the more valuable.

A second Group 1 success in a race as historic as the Coronation Cup would make his chance purchase look even more fortuitous and Schiergen has high hopes of the colt, who will be a first ride at Epsom for Arc-winning jockey Rene Piechulek.

Schiergen said: “I have a good feeling about the long journey to England. I’m very optimistic. He’s taking on better horses now than at home of course, but I think he’s good enough. I think he has the same class as Boreal and Danedream. He’s better on soft ground, but he acts on any going and good ground will be fine for him.”

The Coronation Cup has always been the preferred option for last year’s unlucky-in-running Derby third Westover, who went on to gain handsome compensation in the Irish Derby and found only Japanese superstar Equinox too good for him in the Sheema Classic at Meydan on his return.

Ralph Beckett couldn't be more pleased with him and said: “He’s in very good form. He worked well on the grass at the weekend over six furlongs and we are all very happy with him and with the place we are in."

He added: “The Coronation Cup has always been everyone’s first choice because he handled Epsom so well last year. I thought it was a terrific run in Dubai, especially as he’d had a difficult preparation. He hadn’t settled there for the first few days and things only started to fall into place close to the race, but he ran superbly well."

Emily Upjohn, arguably unlucky when beaten a short head in last year’s Oaks, has been slow in coming to hand, but she is now pleasing John Gosden, who won the 2018 Coronation Cup with Cracksman and now shares the licence with his son Thady.

Gosden said at a gallops morning at Epsom last week: “She’s in good form. We had a look at Dubai, but it was too soon for her. We had that February which was nearly spring-like and it fooled all of us and the fillies, and then along came March and April which were cold and wet and a lot of the fillies went back into themselves.

“It’s been a little muddling this first part of the season with the combination of that and very heavy ground, and to that extent she was very much taking her time, but she just seems to be coming to herself now.”

The filly once again wears the hood she wore for the first time when impressing in the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot last October (replay below).

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Charlie Appleby was relieved to see his 2021 Derby third Hurricane Lane gain an impressive six-length success in last month’s Jockey Club Stakes, for it was his first win since the St Leger and followed a disappointing reappearance.

Appleby told Godolphin’s website: “He showed a return to form last time, which we were delighted to see. It had been a little bit of a bumpy road prior to Newmarket. At Newbury previously, he was ring rusty and conditions took their toll in the end.

“From that run to his second run, we saw marked improvement in his physical presence and his alertness. He got his racing brain back engaged. With those good older horses, it often takes a run to get them back in the game again. I have been delighted with him since that run and I’d say he has improved again. He’s tighter, and sharper mentally. He’s got plenty going for him.”

Aidan O’Brien bids for a ninth Coronation Cup with Point Lonsdale, who met his only two-year-old defeat when second to champion juvenile Native Trail in the National Stakes at The Curragh and has returned to his best following a truncated 2022 with wins in the Alleged Stakes at The Curragh again and the Huxley Stakes at Chester.

O’Brien was particularly pleased with the four-year-old’s Chester win, as he believes the tight track did not play to his strengths. He is by Australia, and further improvement is anticipated over this longer trip.

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