Frankel's Penalty victorious at Dortmund

Three-year-old Frankel colt Penalty went one better than his runner up position in the German 2000 Guineas last month to take the Gr.3 Grosser Preis der Wirtschaft at Dortmund yesterday.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 24th June 2024, by Sean Cronin:

While football's European Championships has witnessed just one successful penalty kick in 24 matches played in Germany thus far, Eckhard Sauren's €210,000 BBAG September yearling Penalty made a mark of his own and added to his runner-up finish in last month's Gr.2 German 2000 Guineas with a career best in Sunday's Gr.3 35th Grosser Preis der Wirtschaft at Dortmund.

Penalty backed up a five-length maiden win, going one mile at Dusseldorf in March, with a second over the same distance at Cologne the following month and broke smartly from an outer gate to stalk the pace in second after the initial exchanges of this first start beyond the one-mile trip. Three lengths adrift of dual stakes scorer Nina's Lob turning for home, the 8-5 favourite made continued headway under pressure to tackle that rival passing the furlong marker and was pushed out to assert superiority in this clash of the generations. The winning margin was three-quarters of a length and it was a further three and a half lengths back to last year's winner Best Lightning in third.

"He is a top horse, it's exactly the reason why I am back in Germany and I would like to thank [owner] Mr [Eckhard] Sauren for placing his trust in me," Thore Hammer-Hansen, Sauren's retained jockey, told GaloppOnline. "I actually wanted to be further back in the field, but he just jumped too well. He is still a big baby, but a truly exceptional horse."

Winning trainer Henk Grewe added: "It was important that Penalty switched off along the way and he was totally relaxed. That's exactly what we wanted to see and he has made another leap forward."