The late German breeding giant Soldier Hollow may very well be represented in the 2025 edition of the Danish Derby. If so it will be through his son Arctic Defence, who made his debut with an immediate victory over 2,200 metres at Jägersro on Wednesday afternoon.
Arctic Defence is trained by Fredrik Reuterskiöld and was ridden to victory by his daughter-in-law, Rebecca Stålhandske.
The Soldier Hollow son first overhauled the long-time leader Power Diamond (Mastercraftsman), and towards the finish he defended himself splendidly against Rikke Bonde’s strong-finishing Santiago (Appel Au Maitre).
In third came the winner’s stablemate Peaceful Impact (Saxon Warrior), while Power Diamond was fourth ahead of Timeout (Juniper Tree).
The victory in the maiden race was worth a little over 50,000 Swedish kronor to Arctic Defence, who is both owned and bred by Mr Ascot, alias Finn Blichfeldt.
Blichfeldt himself owned the dam Arctic Run (Hurricane Run) during the mare’s racing career, and she won two of her 13 starts off a maximum handicap mark of 84.
Arctic Run won over 1,600 metres as a two-year-old and also struck over 2,200 metres as a three-year-old, before she produced the best performance of her life when second to Dorcia (Henrythenavigator) in Svenskt Oaks.
Arctic Run is herself a half-sister to the four-time winner Arctic Waltz (Wiener Walzer), who won four times, earned more than 1.1 million and at best reached a handicap mark of 86.
Fredrik Reuterskiöld, who also trained Arctic Run, said after the victory about Arctic Defence:
“He is late-developing and still a bit gangly, but he has ability and stays the trip. If he comes out of today’s start well we will probably run him at Klampenborg next time and aim to qualify him for the Danish Derby”.
Another excellent three-year-old winner this Wednesday was the Lennart J:r Reuterskiöld-trained Abby (Appel Au Maitre), who superbly beat Fredrik Reuterskiöld’s and Mr Ascot’s Mippzing (Swipe) by eight lengths.
Abby made all over the 1,200 metres and followed up nicely on her first two career starts. On her debut she won comfortably by a length over the same distance as today, and most recently she was fourth over 1,600 metres behind the later Voter winner Be Curious (U S Navy Flag) and the Winter Favourite War Bear (Kodi Bear).
Abby is owned by De Tre Charmörerna, is bred by Jacqueline and Lennart Henriksson and is a half-sister to the former Swedish Oaks winner American Zodiac (Juniper Tree) among others. She too was in training with Lennart J:r Reuterskiöld.
Lunchtime Wednesday at Jägersro began with a one-two for Francisco Castro, when Footfall (Footstepsinthesand) with Per-Anders Gråberg beat his stablemate Civilon (Hallucinate) with Elione Chaves.
