Protectionist

Protectionist
Protectionist on his way to the start of the Melbourne Cup
Race:	English blood
Father:	monsoon
Mother:	Patineuse
Mother, father:	Peintre Celebre
Gender:	stallion
Year of birth:	2010
Country:	Germany
Colour:	brown
Breeder:	Christoph Berglar
Owner:	Australian bloodstock
Trainer:	Andreas Wöhler
Record:	22 starts: 8 wins, 4 places
GAG :	100
Prize amount:	A $ 4,082,660
Greatest wins, titles and awards
Greatest victories
Melbourne Cup 2014 Hansa Prize 2014, 2016 Grand Prix of Berlin 2016
Infobox last modified on: November 4th, 2016.

Protectionist (born March 21, 2010 ) is an English thoroughbred horse . The bay stallion was bred from the Patineuse by Monsun at Union Stud in Eitorf . He is the first and so far only German winner in the Melbourne Cup .

ancestry

Protectionist comes from a rather moderate foreign dam line from which his great-great- grand dam Pawneese (1973-1997) stands out. In 1976 she won the British Oaks, the French Prix de Diane and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes . In 2003, Christoph Berglar had the Pawneese granddaughter Private Life, bought for 225,000 guineas, covered by Monsun and the result was the two-time group winner Persian Storm , who ran in the colors of Baron von Ullmanns . Before Persian Storm showed any performance, Berglar sold Private Life again in 2006 .

After the success of Persian Storm , Berglar bought himself back in 2007 for 40,000 guineas with the non-run Patineuse in the Pawneese line and finally had the mare mated by Monsun in 2009 . Protectionist was drawn as a so-called Foal Share , a procedure not uncommon with very expensive stallions like Monsun. The stallion owner, in this case Georg Baron von Ullmann, provides his stallion free of charge and in return receives from the mare owner a share - usually 50% - of the foal resulting from the mating. In the case of Protectionist, Christoph Berglar bought the Ullmann share before the horse started training.

Two years

Protectionist made his biennial debut on September 9, 2012 with a clear win at the Neue Bult in Hanover. Among the defeated was the eventual winner in the price of the winter favorite Limario .

Then he proved himself with a second place in the Herzog von Ratibor race (group III) in Krefeld, only just beaten by Flamingo Star , who like Limario should become one of the best horses of his year. However, Protectionist came back from the Ratibor race with a lower leg fissure that threw him back heavily.

Three year old

On May 11, 2013, he finally came back with a good 3rd place in the Baden Baden Derby Quali, only 1/2 length behind the winner and 6 lengths before the later Group I winner Empoli .

With an impressive 4-length victory in the Derby qualification 6 weeks later in Bremen, he then strongly recommended himself for the German Derby in Hamburg. But a week later, a collision with a stable mate in training dashed all hopes in this regard. The fracture of the stylus bone he suffered seemed to end his career before it had really started.

Four-year-old Melbourne Cup victory

Nevertheless, Protectionist celebrated his second comeback at the age of four with a good 2nd place, just one length behind the Group I winner Feuerblitz at the Dahlwitz Prize in Hoppegarten on April 20, 2014. This was followed almost 6 weeks later by another 2nd place at the Grand Prix of Baden Entrepreneurs (Group II).

At the renowned Hansa Prize (Group II) over 2400 m in Hamburg, he finally triumphed over strong competition. With a victory at the Prix Kergolay (Group II) in France over 3000 m, he finally recommended himself for the Melbourne Cup , the most important endurance race in the world.

A little later he was sold to the Australian Bloodstock Syndicate by his breeder Christoph Berglar. However, he remained in training with Andreas Wöhler until the Melbourne Cup and half of it was owned by his breeder. On November 4, 2014, after a difficult race, he finally prevailed with a four-length lead against 21 competitors in this race, which is endowed with 6 million Australian dollars. With the equivalent of around € 2.4 million, he won the highest prize money that a German racehorse has ever won.

Five year old - Australia

After the glorious victory in the Melbourne Cup, Protectionist was transferred to training by Kris Lees in Australia. The training methods there have met with great lack of understanding in Germany for years. The horses exported there are sent in too many races and then usually run over the wrong distances. Also, through a centuries-long selection process in Germany, they are used to elastic soils, while in Australia they usually encounter very hard terrain. Overall, this results in a reduced productivity and a greatly increased mortality of German thoroughbreds exported to Australia. Even Protectionist did not get the Australian conditions at all. In the 8 races that he completed there despite illness, he never even came close to the places he never missed in Germany.

Six years old - comeback in Germany and the end of his racing career

The Australian owners then decided at the end of 2015 to give him back to training with his old coach Andreas Wöhler in Germany. Overweight and badly damaged both physically and mentally, he returned to Germany that same year. After a long recovery phase, he finally contested a small build-up race in Düsseldorf on June 5, 2016, which he won convincingly. After equally easy victories in the Hansa Prize in Hamburg (Group II) on July 3, 2016 and in the Berlin Grand Prix in Hoppegarten on August 14, his third comeback can also be described as successful.

In this race, however, he suffered a strain that required an interruption of training and prevented a worthy end of his racing career at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe . He then started again on October 17, 2016 at the Canadian International in Woodbine near Toronto, but only took a very unfortunate last place there, among other things because the very idiosyncratic horse, due to visa problems, fell on his trusted rider Eduardo Pedroza , who is not a German citizen owns, had to do without.

Use as a stallion

The disappointing end of his racing career has the advantage for the financially weak German thoroughbred breed that he could be set up as a breeding stallion at the Röttgen stud for a relatively moderate stud fee of 6500 € . In the summer months he will then "shuttle" to Australia to be available to the breeders there.

Protectionist at the Hansa Prize in Hamburg 2016

on the saddle boxes
on the way to the parade ring
in the parade ring
on the way to victory over Iquitos and Guignol
after the race
in the unsaddling ring with trainer Andreas Wöhler and jockey Eduardo Pedroza
in the saddle ring
when showering in the saddle ring

Web links

Commons : Protectionist (horse) - Collection of images, videos and audio files