RACING:DANEDREAM'S BID for back-to-back wins in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Sunday appears over after Cologne racecourse, where she is stabled, was dramatically placed into quarantine yesterday.
The German track has been shut down for three months after a horse tested positive for an equine infection of the blood. All horses based at Cologne cannot leave the racecourse, including the Peter Schiergen-trained Danedream, a brilliant winner of the Longchamp feature 12 months ago.
Colonge racecourse general manager Benedikt Fassbender said last night: “It’s a nightmare. We are the biggest training centre in Germany and one horse has tested positive for equine infectious anaemia (EIA). “For three months we are now in quarantine – no horses can come in to the track, and no horses can come out. It is a disaster, especially as Danedream cannot take part in the Arc at the orders of the special vets.
“Danedream has not been infected by the disease, but every horse will be tested for the infection in the next few days.”
Meanwhile, the championship-winning team of Sizing Europe and Andrew Lynch could return to action together at Gowran Park this Saturday.
Sizing Europe is set to again make his seasonal debut in the Grade Two PWC Champion Chase at the weekend, a race he won last year, and for which a total of 15 entries remain after yesterday’s forfeit stage. They include last season’s leading novice First Lieutenant and his Punchestown Gold Cup-winning stable companion China Rock who landed the two-and-a-half-mile event in 2010.
However, the focus will be on Sizing Europe who controversially lost his Queen Mother Champion Chase crown to Finian’s Rainbow at Cheltenham in March but wound up last season with another Grade One success at Punchestown.
Shortly afterwards Lynch broke his right femur in a fall and has been out of action since, although the jockey is aiming to be back for his old ally on Saturday if convincing trainer Henry De Bromhead of his fitness beforehand.
The Tramore, Co Waterford trainer is happy with his stable star’s fitness for a first outing in the 2012-13 season which could wind up with Sizing Europe tackling the hugely exciting new two-mile star Sprinter Sacre back at Cheltenham in March.
The going at Gowran yesterday was on the fast side of good which was welcome news to De Bromhead. “As long as the ground is decent, we’ll be running I’d have thought.”
