He's Entered in The French Derby
Life on the roadway is always expected to provide the liberty to do what you want. So when Gunther Schmidt discovered the appealing colt he bred, Balzac, was making a very first look of the year at Kempton last week, he understood he had to be there.
And it looks as if the German horse transporter can start to get delighted about the opportunities of Balzac satisfying his engagement in the Betfred Derby, with trainer-owner Jane Chapple-Hyam now considering a run around Epsom in the Blue Riband Trial and not meaning to be postponed the Classic even if he went off at 100-1 as "everyone has a dream".
"I was taking some German mares over and I 'd seen he was running so I dropped them in Newmarket, had my rest and took my time to come across," said Schmidt. "It's constantly a huge distinction if it's live or simply on the television.
"We bred him, we enjoy him and we still have the mum, who's just foaled a filly by Erevann."
Schmidt now invests a lot of his time truck driving as he established his business, Taxi4Horses, about twenty years earlier and has a fleet of vehicles under his control blending horses all over Europe.
Previously, he ran a stud in Germany with his wife Elke and it stays in his blood, with the couple boarding a few mares in Germany and France.
Balzac's dam, Brit Wit, has currently provided an extraordinary high as she is accountable for Claymore, similarly trained by Chapple-Hyam and a winner of the 2022 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot after going after home Native Trail in the Craven Stakes.
The New Bay gelding has stayed in training aged 7, hacking up when welcomed to a Hungarian local Group 1 at Kincsem Park last September and switching his attention to the Dubai Carnival, where he was 2nd in a handicap in the middle of January.
Brit Wit is an unraced High Chaparral daughter of Brisk Breeze, who showed a fine performer for Schmidt's compatriot Gerhard Schoeningh and his Ennismore Racing banner. The man who has actually been attempting to restore Hoppegarten racecourse back to its previous magnificence campaigned Brisk Breeze with Sir Henry Cecil, winning the Listed Harvest Stakes at Ascot and finishing a close third in the Park Hill.
Balzac, who is from the first crop of Gestut Etzean's Japan, was selected up by Chapple-Hyam herself at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale and raced when as a two-year-old, completing a close third in a hot-looking maiden at Newmarket in the fall.
He went off at even-money under Hollie Doyle in a mile newbie on the Polytrack, making all the going to hold off previous winners Winding Stream and Magic Trip.
"We sold him as a foal for 30,000 gns; Jane was on him because he was born because we're excellent pals," said Schmidt. "She entered the ring, took a bet, and she got him, so we were thrilled.
"We also own a two-year-old sibling [Meribah] from the very first crop of Torquator Tasso. She's in pre-training in Germany and we're keen to get her perhaps to Jane, of course, however she's French bred so we'll see."
Japan, the regally-bred Galileo stallion and winner of the Juddmonte International and Grand Prix de Paris with Aidan O'Brien, was considered an important signing for the Germany breeding industry when he relocated to Etzean upon retirement.
He knocked out six two-year-old winners from his first crop, but there is likely to be better to come now his kids are 3. They include the Danish-bred Taifuu, who won a conditions race in Dubai this winter season.
Schmidt is a Japan fan, too, including: "He had a winner in Germany recently, Weekend Warrior, over 2,100 m and maybe the finest of them, Peace Of Japan, ran over 1,500 m and was ridden with simply hands and heels but ended up an excellent second.
"He's entered in the French Derby, Balzac remains in gotten in the English Derby, so Japan is certainly on his way. And we require a horse like him in Germany; we require a proven stallion who kicks on German breeding."
Should Balzac get to Epsom we can be sure Schmidt will exist too, perhaps pointing a Taxi4Horses cab in the direction of the Downs while in his stovepipe hat and tails.
"I also reproduced Stingray, who ran for us in the German Derby and completed fifth; he then ran in Newmarket last November [6th, James Seymour Stakes] with on and we have actually still got him," he stated.
"We have a fascinating three-year-old ourselves called Strike [by Fearless King], a half brother to Stingray. So we're constantly dreaming. My family has actually had horses for 70 years, I was born with them.