Sarah Steinberg wrote gallop history: The 35-year-old won the 154th German Derby in Hamburg-Horn with the three-year-old stallion Fantastic Moon. She is the first woman to coach a derby winner in the history of the race, which has been held since 1869.
“He has an unbelievable ‘turn of foot’,” said Steinberg, who looks after around 30 thoroughbreds in Munich-Riem, describing the high top speed with which Fantastic Moon, coming from far behind, easily left the 20-strong competition behind. Second was Mr Hollywood ahead of the only mare in the field, Weracruz.
“I actually didn’t want to go so far behind,” said winning rider Rene Piechuleck. “But he was so relaxed on the road and letting him ‘sleep’ for a long time was probably the key to success.” Before that, there had been certain doubts as to whether Fantastic Moon wouldn’t go a little too far over the derby distance of 2400 meters.
Fantastic Moon belongs to the large community of owners Liberty Racing 2021, which can look forward to a prize money of 390,000 euros. Head of the community of owners is entrepreneur and former sports consultant Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten, who looked after tennis pro Angelique Kerber and Bundesliga soccer player Nils Petersen, among others. The co-owner of Fantastic Moon is Michael Vesper, President of the umbrella organization Deutscher Galopp.
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Jockey Piechulek won Europe’s most important race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, with Torquator Tasso two years ago in Paris, but the victory in the derby for his partner Sarah Steinberg is at least as important.