Star appeal
| Star appeal | |
| Race: | English blood |
| Father: | Appiani II |
| Mother: | Sterna |
| Mother, father: | Neckar |
| Gender: | stallion |
| Year of birth: | 1970 |
| Year of death: | 1987 |
| Country: | Germany |
| Colour: | dark brown |
| Breeder: | Röttgen stud |
| Owner: | Waldemar Zeitelhack |
| Trainer: | Theo Grieper |
| Record: | 39 starts: 11 wins, 12 places |
| GAG : | 110 |
| Prize amount: | 1,493,413 DM + 5,000 US dollars |
| Greatest wins, titles and awards | |
| Greatest victories | |
| Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe 1975 | |
| Awards | |
| Galopper of the year 1975 | |
Star Appeal (* 1970 ; † 1987 ) was an English thoroughbred horse . He was born in what was then the Irish branch of the Röttgen Stud . His father Appiani was a very good racehorse, including a winner in the Italian Derby, but a miserable sire. Star Appeal was by far his best offspring and his only group winner at all. Although Star Appeal was registered in the Irish stud book, he was a very German horse. His 2nd father Neckar and especially his 3rd father alchemist were icons of German thoroughbred breeding. His grandmother Tribesart was one of the best alchemist daughters both on the racetrack and in breeding. The very good Derby third from 1995 and successful stallion Sternkönig was a great-grandson of Star Appeal's dam Sterna. Star Appeal began his racing career under renowned coach John Oxx in 1972 in Ireland. After a third place in the Gallinule Stakes (Group II) in Ireland, he won the Prize of the City of Baden-Baden in Germany . Despite the high opinion that his trainer John Oxx had of him, the Röttgen Stud wanted to get rid of the stallion so that he was finally sold to the Nuremberg entrepreneur Waldemar Zeitelhack (1927-2016) for 60,000 DM. Coming from the simplest of backgrounds, he had only found his way into equestrian sport a few years earlier with a donkey for his children. Already sold to Zeitelhack, Star Appeal said goodbye to its old owner, Gestüt Röttgen, with a good 3rd place in St. Leger, Ireland. Encouraged by this success, Zeitelhack sent his newly acquired horse to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1973 , where he was ridden by Peter Alafi but only achieved a moderate eighth place. In 1974, Star Appeal joined Anton Pohlkötter for training and won his first group victory in the Baden Economy Grand Prix . This year he should achieve another group victory in Frankfurt and several group placements on an international level. At the age of five, now in training with Theo Grieper, Star Appeal should make another leap in performance in 1975. After another victory in the Grand Prix of Baden Economy, he won his first Group I victory at the Gran Premio di Milano in 1975. With a victory in the prestigious Eclipse Stakes , he finally became the first German winner in an English Group I race. The highlight of his career was the legendary victory at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1975 under Greville Starkey . The television commentator Addi Furler said of the race before the start, "The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe 1975 will go down as the easiest to win in recent history", as there would be no current derby winner, but Star Appeal was still strong Competitors such as Dahlia, which is still known today, or last year's winner Allez France , who two years earlier also won the three-time mare crown in France. Until shortly before the end, Star Appeal was in the back of the field. Only when the horses had been on the home straight for some time did Star Appeal put in a phenomenal final sprint that no competitor had to counter and finally won by three lengths over On My Way and Comtesse de Loir . Star Appeal won with odds of 1179: 10, the highest odds any winner has ever had in this race. The French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing is said to have described the result of the race as a “victory for Europe”, as a “horse drawn in Ireland and trained in Germany with an English jockey in Paris” won.
Star Appeal ended his racing career in the fall of 1975 and was presented as a stallion in the English National Stud. Star Appeal had only a few offspring in Germany. His best was certainly the prize from European and German St. Leger winner Kamiros and the 1000 Guinea winner Walesiana, bred by the Röttgen stud like Star Appeal and wearing the colors of Zeitelhack's Moritzberg stable. Star Appeal left the most lasting traces through his son Star Way (1977–2008) in New Zealand breeding. Star Appeal died there on December 25, 1987 at the age of 17.