Germany: Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso is being prepared to return to action in a G2 contest at Baden-Baden later this month at the start of a campaign geared towards a second tilt at Europe’s richest race.
Trainer Marcel Weiss is targeting the Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft over 1m3f on May 29 for the five-year-old who stunned ParisLongchamp last October under jockey Rene Piechulek with his 80-1 triumph over Tarnawa and Hurricane Lane in last year’s Qatar-sponsored showpiece.
A first trip to Britain for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot will also be considered for Torquator Tasso, who will retire to his owner’s Gestut Auenquelle stud at the end of the season.
“Torquator Tasso had a perfect winter,” reported Weiss’s assistant Julia Romich. “He has grown again and he looks absolutely brilliant. We think this year that he is physically much better than last year. He is a stronger horse.”
Torquator Tasso, a son of the late Adlerflug, relished the heavy going in Paris last year to become Germany's third Arc winner after Star Appeal and Danedream. He defeated a top-class field that also included the likes of Derby winner Adayar, Champion Stakes winner Sealiway and the Oaks winner Snowfall.
Although Torquator Tasso has won three times at G1 level, he will have his sights lowered for his first two outings of the season, according to Romich.
“He will have his first race in a Group 2 on the last day of the May Baden-Baden meeting, then he will go back to Hamburg for the Grosser Hansa-Preis like last year,” she said.
“After that we have two options, one is the King George at the end of July or maybe the same weekend the G1 in Hoppegarten [Grosser Preis von Berlin] where he finished second to the English filly Alpinista last year. Then it will be back to Baden-Baden [Grosser Preis von Baden] and then back to Paris.”
Torquator Tasso has recorded all his wins on ground that has been good or softer but Romich said the likelihood of getting a fast run race would be a bigger factor in determining whether he went to Ascot or stayed at home. “In July the ground is likely to be the same in Hoppegarten and England,” she said.
“When it’s warm he doesn’t have soft ground, but it’s not absolutely necessary. What he wants is a fast-run race and when there are only a few horses there often isn’t a good pace. In Germany we can deal with that by putting a horse in to make the pace.”
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