A rising international thoroughbred force that is the German bred Pastorius can continue his G1 march with victory for trainer Mario Hofer in the Singapore Airlines International Cup today.
Hofer became a trainer in Munich, Germany in 1985, which was the very same year that Super Mario Bros became a video game developed by Nintendo that would be an international earning juggernaut.
Germany are on a super roll at the moment with an economy that is relentlessly reliable plus having both teams in the Champions League Final for the first time is an achievement too.
To have Bayern Munich versus Borussia Dortmund in the final played at Wembley, the home of football in England, is special for Germany and the bragging rights will go on for decades!
Six days after Pastorius attempts to deliver for Germany in Singapore on the G1 stage the biggest prize of European football each season will definitely be going to a German team.
Pastorius has won six of his twelve starts and placed another three times with his misses being a pair of fourths and a seventh.
He is versatile in both racing pattern (so can take a sit or surge over his rivals) and no concerns about a wet track, which is a factor that must be considered in Singapore.
The last six runs for Pastorius have seen five come at G1 and one at G3 with his record in this time an impressive four wins (three at G1), a third (at G1 behind Danedream (won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2011) and a fourth (at G1 behind the never beaten Frankel).
His fresh up win for 2013 in the proven big race source G1 Prix Ganay (2110m) at Longchamp last month was a methodical length win after trailing the leading pair.
The good footing offered no concerns and when you consider the likes of Maxios, Dunaden and Giofra finished second, third and fourth respectively it showed this was a quality win.
Maxios has won two of his last four starts including one over Reliable Man easily for a serious form comparison, as that horse was awesome when winning the QE II Cup at Randwick this autumn despite an injury late in the race.
The two defeats of Maxios have been last start behind Pastorius and three runs ago when sixth to the turf titan Cirrus Des Aigles in the G2 Qatar Prix Dollar.
Cirrus Des Aigles in his last fifteen starts has only finished outside first or second once apart from his disqualification in the G1 Prix D’Ispahan and that was a luckless fifth in the G1 Hong Kong Cup.
In that time he has contested G1 eight times.
Dunaden is a formline bettors trust with his last three wins meaningful and having come in the G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) in 2011 and G1 Hong Kong Cup Vase (2400m) seven weeks later plus the G1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) in 2012.
Giofra before the Prix Ganay was a strong finishing third in the G1 Dubai Duty Free (1800m) behind the Godolphin runner Sajjhaa and before that was huge second from the back in the Hong Kong Cup behind California Memory.
There is also a second in the formline behind Cirrus Des Aigles in the Prix Ganay of 2012, when beaten eights lengths but remember he got within a length and three quarters of Frankel in the G1 Qipco Stakes of 2012 despite some Bullet Train attention.
The fourth finisher in the Qipco was Pastorius, so his rise up the ranks is no surprise and the form does interlock and stand up to scrutiny every which way you approach it.
Also of note is third in the 2012 Prix Ganay behind Cirrus Des Aigles and Giofra was Reliable Man to give you a double source of form proving itself to be trustworthy.
Olivier Peslier will ride Pastorius (he rode him for the first time in winning the Prix Ganay last month and was suitably impressed) and the international G1 rider has ridden some superstars so his opinion of this German galloper is to be respected.
Peslier has won on Cirrus des Aigles and Goldlikova plus the likes of Peintre Celebre and Helissio to name a few.
Germany won the Singapore International Cup in 2004 with the Andreas Schutz trained and Andrasch Starke ridden Epalo (a son of Lando that won the G1 Japan Cup in 1995) by working to the lead then gapping his rivals the run home.
Pastorius has beaten at home the likes of Zazou by eight and a half lengths and that horse is yet another link of the formlines to confirm what many already know.
He (Zazou) finished fourth in the Singapore International Cup last year and in his record prior has a win over Cirrus Des Aigles and a placing behind California Memory.
Hong Kong has not won the Singapore International Cup yet but have a sublime record in the Krisflyer with such sprinting prowess their powerbase much alike Singapore.
However in the one-upmanship stakes we find Singapore won the first running of their International Cup with Ouzo in 2000 so are ahead at this stage though Hong Kong have two John Moore trained runners today and both are in winning form.
Moore finished second in the feature last year with Zaidan and is hungry to go one better and a dream result would be for his pair to quinella the event.
Out of Military Attack and Dan Excel I do prefer the former as his formlines are stronger with the last start win over California Memory in the G1 Audemars Piguet QE II Cup (2000m) standing out.
I just felt the last start win by Dan Excel was more track bias helped plus at 2000m there is a query on him though he is a consistently honest performer.
Military Attack has beaten him over four lengths at 2000m into sixth and is more a winner (four of his career seven wins have come this year) while Dan Excel last start was winning his first race in over two years.
The barrier draw of four is ideal for Military Attack as Zac Purton will be able to position him perfectly around the first home turn likely jostling by many for a good spot.
Moore is very happy too that his other runner Dan Excel drew the ace as it means his two runners are not going to be doing a yard of extra work early and most likely in the running.
The wide draw for Meandre is not a game changer and after two runs on the all weather this year getting back to the turf is a key form tick.
It is not like his latest outing on the all weather was poor as he finished sixth in the G1 Dubai World Cup to Animal Kingdom after tracking the pace but could not lift when the blowtorch was applied.
Meandre is a turf performer though and through plus I also like him third up today for his main target race (he has won two of three outings third up).
He does not stay away from tackling the big races and a third in the G1 Hong Kong Vase to Dunaden and Jaguar Mail last December showed it.
Fresh up at the start of this campaign he finished second in the G2 Qatar Prix Foy (2400m), the traditional Arc lead up event, behind the Japanese colossus Orfevre.
The likes of Joshua Tree and Fiorente finished third and fourth respectively.
The last time winning form appeared for Meandre was in Germany over July of 2012.
Tellingly a month earlier at home he also won the G1 Grand Prix De Saint Cloud (2400m) with the second, third and fourth finishers notably Shareta, Galikova and Danedream.
Mull Of Killough has improved dramatically for the Newmarket trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam and won five of his ten starts for her.
He may be a seven-year-old now but brings to Singapore a hattrick and is a good 2000m galloper that likes to chase the pace then pounce so he does look suited to the race and track.
There are wet track wins in his resume and he is another that has the weather bases covered.
Saeed Bin Suroor won the 2002 Singapore International Cup with Grandera for Godolphin and Frankie Dettori rode, which was the first time it was run under a G1 banner.
Hunter’s Light is a serious soldier for the Blue Army with nine wins and four placings from his eighteen starts.
His last eight starts make compelling reading with five wins and a second.
The reason being his misses came behind proven G1 form yardsticks such as Sea Moon in the G2 Hardwicke Stakes (2400m) of 2012.
The second and third finishers in that form source race were Dunaden and Red Cadeaux, which had formed the quinella in the 2011 Melbourne Cup.
Also of note is the sixth finisher in the Hardwicke (one spot ahead of Hunter’s Light) was Fiorente and that finished second in the 2012 Melbourne Cup fresh up and was a huge third recently in the G1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) under WFA behind All Too Hard.
These formlines do not link up by accident as the usual players that are top shelf keep appearing in the big race results because they are real G1 class.
After the Hardwicke miss Hunter’s Light went on a spree winning five of his next six starts and placing once.
His placing of course a distant second to Cirrus Des Aigles on a bog but like Sea Moon they are formlines you can take all the way to the bank.
Hunter’s Light easily beat Jet Away and that runner won fresh up brilliantly for his new trainer David Hayes at Bendigo and then two weeks later captured a G3 at Caulfield in March this year.
The last start seventh by Hunter’s Light came in the G1 Dubai World Cup won by the impressive beast Animal Kingdom that is all power and class.
It was a tad disappointing by Hunter’s Light after sitting behind the pace but Animal Kingdom has a stupendous record and the only time he has not finished first or second was in the Belmont Stakes of 2011 when found to be badly injured after being pole-axed early.
Animal Kingdom has come back from major injury and adversity twice so if you go into battle against him the chances are you will lose the war.
His second in the Breeders Cup Mile after almost nine months away from the track due to injury was incredible with the winner Wise Dan, a world superstar himself, clocking a phenomenal 1:31.78.
The battling fourth runner home from the trail was Excelebration, which is the horse Frankel kept beating senseless (five times) on raceday.
Hunter’s Light is versatile in that he goes on all weather and turf plus can swim a bit so that ever-present rain threat at Kranji is not a concern.
He is a better traveler than most human beings with his last seven starts seeing wins in Turkey, Italy, England and Dubai.
Silvestre De Sousa will ride as usual and will want to better an already grand strike rate atop of four wins from five rides.
The best local chance is of course the wonder mare Better Life but this is without any doubt whatsoever the strongest line up she has ever met.
It is a serious international line up and if Better Life can deliver then she would start the shortest ever Singapore Derby runner and may look to then go overseas herself.
Listen for the parochial roar if the wee mare with gears in Better Life surges into contention the run home.
The path from Krefeld (homebase for last thirteen years of trainer Mario Hofer) in Germany to Kranji in Singapore is a stepping-stone to even greater things.
Today that renowned German efficiency of getting it done will be produced once again in the shape of Pastorius and we could well see a Super Mario in the Singapore birdcage.
Military Attack can scratch that John Moore itch from last year, when finishing second with Zaidan, and give Hong Kong a first win in the Singapore Airlines International Cup.
I am warming by the minute about Meandre as the overs chance and of course I do respect Hunter’s Light as his formlines are compelling just below the monster hitters like Animal Kingdom, Cirrus Des Aigles and Sea Moon.
Enjoy an epic running in 2013.
