Back on stage: About the comeback of Andreas Schütz
It had become very quiet around him, around a trainer who was one of the most successful trainers ever in Germany: Andreas Schütz, who had been active on a small level in Chantilly for a few years, but who was a serial winner in the top races here, recently made a spectacular comeback. With Marhaba Ya Sanafi, the Cologne rider won the classic Stallions Poule, surprisingly.
The script for the first French colt race of the season was thrown out after the first five seconds when the favourite American Flag completely botched the start. Marhaba Ya Sanafi, sent into the world by his trainer Andreas Schütz from Chantilly, had secured a place in the Poule d`Essai des Poulains when he left American Flag behind in the decisive test here. The winner of five derbies in his homeland and trainer of Hong Kong champion Good Ba Ba during his time in Asia, was saddling only his second classic starter since arriving in France.
"I was confident that he would be as good as I have had him all season," Schütz said. "We didn`t prepare him too hard for his first two races and he did so well that I thought he could really improve. I was hoping for a softer ground, but it worked out well. "I don`t have much to compare him to, so he`s been working a lot on his own or with lesser horses. In his last gallop he did very well against another good horse, so I was very confident that he would run very well today, even though I didn`t expect him to win."
Asked about the significance of Jaber Abdullah`s Muhaarar son`s victory, Schütz said, "I moved to France seven years ago and to win the first Classic here is incredible. I hope we can build on that. I`ve won more than 20 Group 1 races in my career and I hope we can win more." Schütz is back, and it will be interesting to see how he can keep the Turf world on its toes once again.
