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WINNING RETURN FOR ALPINISTA
By Tom Frary
Kirsten Rausing's Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) was making her comeback in Sunday's G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, but there was no sign of rustiness as she overwhelmed a deep field for a fourth consecutive top-level victory. Now unbeaten in her last six starts, including the G2 Lancashire Oaks, G1 Grosser Preis Von Berlin, G1 Preis Von Europa and G1 Grosser Preis Von Bayern, the Sir Mark Prescott-trained grey was held up early travelling notably strongly for Luke Morris in rear of mid-division. Unleashed wide at the top of the straight, the 8-1 shot rolled by the progressive Fabre trainee Baratti (GB) (Frankel {GB}) a furlong from home en route to a 1 1/4-length success, with Bubble Gift (Fr) (Nathaniel {Ire}) a neck away in third. There are worrying signs for connections of the 4-5 favourite Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), as he weakened in early straight and beat only one rival.
SAMMARCO EDGES DEUTSCHES DERBY THRILLER
By Sean Cronin
Hamburg's new starting stalls, wider than before, were the reason for a near 30-minute delay to Sunday's G1 IDEE 153rd Deutsches Derby and course technicians worked furiously on making necessary adjustments to the running rail so that they would fit the track. In the i650,000 contest itself, it was a matter of millimetres at the finish too as Gestut Park Wiedingen's G2 Union-Rennen victor Sammarco (Ire) (Camelot {GB) denied the Markus Klug-trained duo Schwarzer Peter (Ger) (Neatico {Ger}) and So Moonstruck (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) in a thrilling conclusion to Germany's seasonal highlight.
Sammarco opened up with a neck defeat of subsequent sales- race scorer Alaska Tiger (Ire) (Maxios {GB}) when graduating over 7 1/2 furlongs in his Oct. 31 debut at Halle, his lone juvenile start, and returned to run second behind the reopposing Lavello (Ire) (Zarak {Fr}) in Munich's 10-furlong May 1 G3 Bavarian Classic on seasonal debut.
