EBN: Gorlsdorf foal given appropriate name of Baden Baden

Gestut Gorlsdorf have named their filly foal by Sea The Moon out of Berlin Berlin (Dubai Destination), born last week (19th January) at their north German stud, Baden Baden.

Gorlsdorf owner Heike Bischoff-Lafrentz writes on her website: „All of us here at Gorlsdorf are convinced - Baden Baden out of Berlin Berlin - the right name for a future star!“

It is also a very appropriate name, as the sire and dam (both owned and bred by Gorlsdorf and trained by Markus Klug) actually ran against each other at Baden-Baden just over 14 months ago, when Sea The Moon finished runner-up to Ivanhowe (now running in Australia under the name Our Ivanhowe) in the Gr.1 Grosser Preis von Baden, with Berlin Berlin sixth of the eleven runners.

Berlin Berlin had previously finished runner-up in the Gr.1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, another appropriate result. She is also extremely well-bred and was well bought for Gorlsdorf by BBA Germany for 97,000gns at Tattersalls October Yearling Sales (Book One) in 2010. Her dam Bombazine (Generous) is a daughter of Gerald Leigh´s highly influential Habitat mare Brocade. Admittedly the market was much weaker then than it is now, but fillies and mares from this family have changed hands recently at the various Leigh dispersal sales for far higher sums.

The naming of thoroughbreds can be quite an art and throughout racing history many Champion racehorses - from Eclipse all the way to American Pharoah – have been blessed with the “right” name. There have of course been some flops, not to mention Champions such as Cigar, but the late German trainer Heinz Jentzsch was surely correct when he opined that no horse with an ugly name could win the Derby. He was referring to the Gr.1 Deutsches Derby, which he won eight times with such noblynamed three-year-olds as Acatenango or Don Giovanni, the latter named after an opera by Mozart, himself the name of a Coolmore Champion. The Irish stud are also great believers in this theory and have bred Champions made after poets (Dylan Thomas) and (Yeats), not to mention their current standard bearer Galileo, named after the legendary Italian astronomer.

Two top US performers of this decade are named after the leading German football clubs Bayern and Dortmund, but Baden Baden refers wittily not only to her dam but also to Germany´s leading racecourse. Whether she will turn out to be a star remains to be seen, but the leading German bookmaker RaceBets is offering 100-1 against her winning the 2019 Gr.1 Preis der Diana (Oaks).

Text: David Conolly-Smith

(26/01/2016)