'I was greeted by something I’ve never experienced on any stud trip before...'

Good Morning Bloodstockis Martin Stevens' daily morning email and presented online as a sample.

In this latest chapter of the temporarily renamed Guten Morgen Bloodstock, from Bremen to the Rhineland, his grand tour of German studs continues. Subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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Due to wifi issues and a lack of time, I was only able to tell you about one of the three north German studs I visited earlier in the week in yesterday's Good Morning Bloodstock email; so today is a bumper edition, containing my thoughts on the other two, as well as another two farms I visited further south, in the Rhineland, the following day.

I left you in Gestüt Fährhof near Bremen – not a bad place to be, with its beautiful red brick buildings watched over by a statue of the stud’s stallion sensation Surumu – but we are now heading a little further east to Gestüt Park Wiedingen on the picturesque Lüneburg Heath.

Helmut von Finck, who acquired the stud in 2000, has never been short of success, as he campaigned Preis der Diana heroine and Deutsches Derby third Flamingo Road, her classy half-brother Flamingo Paradise and Italian Group 1 winner Waky Nao among others.

But it’s fair to say the decision to pay 75,000gns for a yearling colt by In The Wings out of the winning Common Grounds mare Island Race from breeder Car Colston Hall Stud at Tattersalls in 2001 was nothing short of a masterstroke.

Named Soldier Hollow and placed in training with Peter Schiergen, he developed into a remarkably durable high-class performer, winning at least one black-type race in every season from the ages of two to seven. He collected four Group 1 victories along the way, twice each in the Bayerisches Zuchtrennen and the Premio Roma, and also finished third in the Arlington Million.

Von Finck stood Soldier Hollow at Gestüt Röttgen and later Auenquelle, and has bred from him top-notchers such as Destino, Dschingis Secret and Wai Key Star. For other breeders, the horse has produced Group 1 winners Ivanhowe, Pastorius, Serienholde and Weltstar, as well as – if we must – the celebrity hurdlers Arctic Fire and Saldier.

Gestüt Park Wiedingen is, naturally, now home to plenty of Soldier Hollow mares and one of them, the Listed-placed Saloon Sold, clicked with Camelot to produce none other than this year’s Deutsches Derby and Bayerisches Zuchtrennen victor Sammarco.

The stud’s four-strong yearling draft at BBAG next month contains an Areion half-brother to Sammarco – well put together though a little on the small side, but then so is his brother and it’s done him no harm – and two other maternal grandchildren of Soldier Hollow, one a Sea The Moon colt out of Flamingo Road’s daughter Faizeh, and the other a Mastercrafstman colt out of champion two-year-old filly Whispering Angel.

The operation’s fourth lot bound for Baden-Baden could be a future Soldier Hollow broodmare of note. The former German champion sire’s filly is out of Elvira, a winning Le Havre mare from the family of German Oaks scorer Enora.

Von Finck could be set to reap more rewards from Soldier Hollow in yet another way, as he has given strong support to Group 3 winner and narrow Deutsches Derby runner-up Destino in his early years standing at Gestüt Westerberg. There are lots of good-looking foals and yearlings by that young sire on the farm. Remember his name.

Soldier Hollow: purchase was a masterstrokeCredit: Gestut Auenquelle

Gestüt Park Wiedingen looks like something from a Brothers Grimm fairytale, as it contains hectares of dense, dark woodland. The shade it provides is a godsend in this incredibly long, hot summer in Germany.

Stud manager Jan Ditscheid – who assumed the role on January 1, 2019, and so oversaw the birth of a Deutsches Derby winner only two months into the job – is therefore in the unusual position of having to maintain a large forest (no mean feat, what with storms, a sinking water table and wood sales) as well as an elite breeding enterprise.

Just a little further east of Gestüt Park Wiedingen is Gregor and Julia Baum’s Gestüt Brümmerhof, whose name is etched into turf history as the breeder of the wonderful Arc, King George and dual Grosser Preis von Baden winner Danedream.

This is one of Germany’s most determinedly commercial breeding operations, as illustrated by the fact that when they set a new top price at BBAG by selling a Sea The Stars filly out of Listed-placed Anna Mia to Godolphin for €820,000 in 2019, they were breaking their own record, having sold a Monsun colt to Rüdiger Alles for €710,000 12 years earlier.

Danedream herself was sold for a scarcely believable €9,000 as a two-year-old at BBAG, as she looked nothing out of the ordinary and the Baums had to try and twist buyers’ arms just to look at her, but as soon as the filly showed she was something special on the track they put any disappointment behind them and just enjoyed the ride.

They can even laugh about it now. When Gregor Baum was interviewed at the anniversary gala for 200 years of German racing in Berlin last week, he was asked about the importance of his wife Julia to the ongoing success of the stud, and he told the audience proudly that she was responsible for every decision there, before adding hastily: “except selling Danedream; that was all my idea!”

I can say now from personal experience that Julia imbues the whole stud with a tremendous positive energy. She knows every hair on every horse, as well as the current records and reputations of their sires and any pedigree updates, and she was considerate enough to show me around with the assistance of long-serving stud manager Jörg Thane, even when the next round of BBAG yearlings were with the vets being x-rayed.

All of those 15 or so youngsters hold considerable appeal on pedigree and physique, but the Sea The Stars filly out of the Group 3-placed Pivotal mare Anna Pivola is something of a queen, and it goes without saying that the Dubawi filly who is the first produce of the stud’s Preis der Diana heroine Diamanta is one to look out for.

A real treat at Gestüt Brümmerhof was the chance to see Waldpfad while he was on a summer break at his birthplace from covering duty at Gestüt Erftmühle.

Julia and Gregor Baum (right) at Longchamp after Danedream's Arc victoryCredit: Edward Whitaker

Brümmerhof is home to lots of first foals by the son of Shamardal from the powerful ‘W’ family of Waldgeist, who carried the Baums’ silks to beat a strong home team in the Hackwood Stakes and ran a cracker when third to Hello Youmzain in the Haydock Sprint Cup.

They’re a really impressive bunch, and I have a sneaking suspicion they could cause a bit of a stir at next year’s BBAG Yearling Sale, and that British and Irish studs might come to regret not striking a deal to stand this good-looking and impeccably bred sprinter there.

It was a train journey down to the Rhineland the next day to see two similarly named and similarly successful studs: Philipp Stauffenberg’s Schlossgut Itlingen and Manfred Ostermann’s Gestüt Hof Ittlingen (note the extra t).

Stauffenberg had just arrived home from selling three yearlings in Deauville – with the electronic scooter that he’s currently riding to get around after doing his achilles tendon, but without the plastic boot that was supporting it, having decided to chase a yearling around the lunging ring at Arqana, much to daughter Alexandra’s despair.

Stauffenberg operates from the grounds of a castle that is straight out of another page from Grimms’ Fairy Tales. It contains his and his wife Marion’s own stock, as well as boarders for clients, and a number of yearlings being expertly prepared for sale.

Some of those yearlings are owned by other leading German breeders, and the three being consigned to BBAG on behalf of Gestüt Höny-Hof, which is selling yearlings as part of its new era being run in a trust, might make quite a ripple in the market – especially the Le Havre filly and Lope De Vega colt out of winning daughters of Samum and Schiaparelli’s champion full-sister Salve Regina.

Stauffenberg's other yearlings are high-rolling pinhooks made on behalf of himself and a group of fellow investors. He is determined to do trading a little differently to others, ignoring the need for speed and spending that bit extra to secure those foals with the best physiques and top-class pedigrees.

He has landed some superb touches in the past two seasons, with a No Nay Never full-sister to Arizona going from €260,000 foal to 825,000gns yearling last year and a Wootton Bassett half-sister to Listed scorer Lady Galore increasing in value from €190,000 to 600,000gns between 2019 and 2020.

Stauffenberg revels in his status as an outsider in the pinhooking world, with just he and Marion scouring the foal sales each year for pure class, while others pursue fashionable sires and early juveniles.

The approach seems to be working, as Stauffenberg’s operation can boast that 97 per cent of the horses off the farm get to the track, 72 per cent become winners and 23 per cent attain black type.

Philipp Stauffenberg: has landed some fine touchesCredit: Peter Mooney

The current flagbearer is Rosscarbery, a Sea The Stars filly sold on behalf of Gestüt Wittekindshof at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and a dual Group 3 winner this year for Paddy Twomey.

It was off to nearby Gestüt Hof Ittlingen next, to be greeted by something I’ve never experienced on any stud trip before, and probably won’t ever again: a Union Jack hoisted by the main building to welcome my arrival.

I thought that it must be there all the time, as the thoroughbred is sometimes known in Germany as the ‘Englisches Vollblut’, but no: the stud’s formidable Dutch-born administrator Lisette de Jong confirmed to me that it was there just for me.

Lisette then brought out a platter of fancy cream cakes from the local bakery for us to enjoy with coffee, and then – I promise I’m not trying to make you jealous – I was presented with a stud book, cap and little key ring with a jockey wearing the Ittlingen colours.

I could get used to treatment like that. All I ever come away with from Davey Stack when I visit him at Coolagown Stud is a headache (a little test to see if he reads this far down today).

Quality is the watchword at Hof Ittlingen, not just in terms of the hospitality it affords visitors but also, far more importantly, in the horses bred there.

They include top-flight winners Anatas, Donaldson, Hollywood Dream, Just A Flutter and Rivellino, but the real star of the show here is Lando, who took the Deutsches Derby and back-to-back renewals of the Grosser Preis von Baden, and signed off by becoming the first and only German horse to win the Japan Cup.

Lando – whose half-brother Laroche won the Deutsches Derby in the following year – stood as a stallion back at his birthplace and supplied Group/Grade 1 winners Donaldson, Epalo, Gonbarda, Intendant, Paolini, Prince Flori and Scalo. Gonbarda is helping to extend her sire’s influence as she became the dam of Farhh.

Laurea, the dam of Lando and Laroche, played a dual role in Hof Ittlingen’s third Derby winner. The 2019 hero Laccario is by Scalo out of the Lomitas mare Laccata, whose dam La Donna was by Shirley Heights out of Laurea.

Hof Ittlingen is enjoying a fine year on the track again, as its white and red silks have been carried to victory in no fewer than nine stakes races, including the Belmont Gold Cup by Loft, an Adlerflug gelding out of a Dubawi mare descended from Laurea. He is set to run for Arc-winning trainer Marcel Weiss and his new Australian ownership syndicate in Listed company at Chester on Saturday.

The stud’s yearling consignment to BBAG next month contains two absolute belters with connections to this exceptional ‘L’ family: a Best Solution filly out of Loyalty, a winning Lando half-sister to Lucky Speed, and a Lord Of England half-brother to Loft.

I suspect I’ll have news of more beautiful lots to look out for in Baden-Baden, as there’s still a lot of studs to see this week, so don't miss the last edition of Guten Morgen Bloodstock on Monday before normal service resumes.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

'I was greeted by something I’ve never experienced on any stud trip before...'

Guten Morgen Bloodstock with the goings-on from four - yes, four - more studs