Shimrano heads 18-horse German Derby

Shimrano, a Group 2 winner in Cologne, Germany, last month, is the probable favorite in Sunday’s $721,500 German Derby at Hamburg Racecourse.

Shimrano, by Monsun, is owned by Australia Racing Stables and trained by Paul Harley. The colt is owned by an Australian racing syndicate and could race in that country later this year.

Shimrano won the Group 2 Oppenheim Union-Rennen at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Cologne on June 14 to establish his status as the German Derby favorite. In Sunday’s race, he is part of a field of 18 that includes five runners trained by Peter Schiergen, who won the 2011 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris with Dandream.

Schiergen is a three-time winner of the Germany Derby, most recently with Lucky Speed in 2013. Schiergen’s best chance on Sunday is Nordic Flight, who won the Derby Trial at Baden-Baden on June 6.

Schiergen also starts Hot Beat, Lovato, and Nutan, who have placed in stakes this year, and Graasten, who was 10th in the Italian Derby earlier this year.

Other leading candidates for the German Derby are Palace Prince, who was sixth in the German 2000 Guineas on May 25 but rebounded to win the Prix Ridgway at Compiegne, France, on June 20; and Shadow Sadness, the winner of a Group 3 race at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Frankfurt on May 3.