Moser rarely misses when he puts an English race in his sights
German’s record means ignoring Waldpfad at Haydock may be unwise, says Marcus Armytage
It is only six years since Novellist followed his compatriot Danedream into the winner’s enclosure at Ascot to provide German winners of the King George in successive seasons.
Since then, according to Hanover-based trainer Dominik Moser, German trainers have lost confidence in bringing horses to race in England, although he seems to be single-handedly bucking that trend.
On Saturday, he runs Waldpfad in the Haydock Park Sprint Cup, the £300,000 contest for which Betfair stepped in as a last-minute sponsor yesterday, and for which July Cup winner Ten Sovereigns is now a doubt because of soft ground.
The five-year-old will start his 12-hour journey by road and sea from north Germany to Haydock, via Rotterdam and Hull, later today arriving in the early hours of tomorrow.
If Moser’s record here is anything to go by it would be unwise to ignore Waldpfad. He won York’s Summer Stakes with Gracia Directa in 2012 and a Listed race at Nottingham in 2017 with Artistica before he brought Waldpfad over for the Hackwood Stakes at Newbury in July.
On that occasion Waldpfad beat Khaadem, subsequent winner of the Stewards Cup and all the rage for Saturday’s race, by 1¾ lengths on good to soft ground. The Charlie Hills colt is 4-1 but Waldpfad is 16-1.
“We were going to bring him back to Newbury but the ground was too quick so we took him to Baden-baden and he ran all right, finishing second, but he was bumped leaving the stalls,” said Moser, 46, yesterday. “If the ground is similar to Newbury I’ll be very happy for him.”
Moser, whose father was a champion apprentice, was brought up in the breeding side of racing and started training at the family’s Trona stud. He was there three years before he stopped to become racing manager for Waldpfad’s owners, Brummerhof Stud. In 2017 his boss encouraged him to start training their horses.
He has never worked, as such, in Britain but spent the most instructive week of his racing career with Mark Johnston. “It was super professional and I learned so much about training and the details,” he explained.
Thoroughbred breeding remains strong in Germany and Brummerhof – which bred Danedream – is one of the country’s three biggest studs. Its Sea The Stars filly bought by Godolphin was the €820,000 top lot at the Badenbaden sales last week.
“I love running horses in England,” said Moser. “It has become easier to stay at home than go to France or England to race. Perhaps I am just a lucky guy. Normally I search for Listed fillies’ races to help build up Brummerhof ’s pedigrees. Haydock is a bit bigger than that!”