'I've been breeding for 35 years and this was the horse who made it for me' - Soldier Hollow's owner pays heartfelt tribute

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Here, Aisling Crowe speaks to Soldier Hollow's owner owner Helmut von Finck – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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"Today I walked around the farm and looked at my yearlings; what he gave is incredible.

"He was the horse of my life, I have been breeding for 35 years and this was the horse who made it for me. Breeding is a passion, it’s not such a business like it is in Ireland or Britain, you have to have a lot of passion for it and I’ve had 23 lovely years with Soldier Hollow, it has been wonderful."

Soldier Hollow may be gone but for his owner Helmut von Finck, the legacy that the diminutive horse bequeathed him is enormous.

For more than two decades, the bay son of In The Wings had been a constant presence in his life, first as a racehorse and then as a stallion, and he overcame the odds on a number of occasions to forge a globally successful racing career and become one of Germany's most influential sires.

From his farm south of Hamburg, the entrepreneur took the time to share his memories of Soldier Hollow, which are crystal clear from the moment he set eyes on the colt bred by Car Colston Hall Stud at Tattersalls.

"I was in Newmarket at the sales and I wished to buy a horse for the Derby, that distance, and at the end there were two sons of In The Wings that I liked,” he recalls. “One was big and one was small; everybody told me the big horse was better but I fell in love with the smaller one. I bought him and this horse became a big horse.”

Sent into training with Peter Schiergen, Soldier Hollow won his first two starts as a juvenile including a Listed contest over a mile at Dusseldorf. 

Soldier Hollow won the Group 3 Dr Busch Memorial at Krefeld in April of his second season and von Finck was dreaming of Derby glory. Ransom O'War, the horse Soldier Hollow beat at Krefeld, would go on to be runner-up to Dai Jin in the Deutsches Derby, but Soldier Hollow was missing from the line-up at Hamburg.

"He was very ill as a three-year-old and was unable to run in the Derby, he fought for his life for a long time because he had a serious colitis - he spent a long time in hospital and then recovering," says von Finck of the illness that nearly ended the Soldier Hollow story before it really began.

"As a four-year-old he came back and won four races in a row during the second half of the year and won his first Group 1 [Premio Roma], so he was horse of the year in Germany. It was sensational how he came back again.

"He was very tough and hard, he ran very well as an older horse, he never gave up. Sometimes the trainer would ask me if I wanted to run him in Dubai, but I never did because I didn't want to interrupt the rhythm of his season. The Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis over 2,000m [mile and a quarter] was his aim and he won that race twice." 

Soldier Hollow did take von Finck on a journey around the world, with an exception made for the 2006 Grosser Dallmayr Preis to allow the horse to take in a different race on another continent.

He says: "The year in between his wins in the Grosser Dallmayr Preis, the trainer suggested we could go to America for the Arlington Million and I thought it would be an adventure and a good experience, so we went to Chicago. It was not his ground, it was very fast but he ran a big, big race and was third. It was a very nice experience."

Soldier Hollow: 'The Prix Dollar in Paris, when he raced against Manduro and beat him, was a special moment'Credit: Gestut Auenquelle

The best experience outside of Germany, however, came in Paris on Soldier Hollow's next start. His victory that autumn in the Bois de Boulogne was a brilliant achievement for German racing.

"The Prix Dollar in Paris, when he raced against Manduro and beat him, was a special moment. Manduro was the best horse in the world at this time but Soldier Hollow beat him and for me, to win on Arc weekend, was incredible," he recalls, the pride and love in his voice still evident all these years down the line.

"He loved soft ground and at the end of the year twice he won the Group 1 Premio Roma. He had a very beautiful racing career around the world - we were in Hong Kong with him but it was not his best day. He took us around the world and gave us wonderful experiences and memories. 

"He was a tough horse with a strong mind, and he could have remained racing at eight but it was time to start his stallion career."

In the 16 years Soldier Hollow spent as a stallion, first at Gestut Rottgen and latterly at Gestut Auenquelle, he has produced five individual Group 1 winners, including Pastorius, the Deutsches Derby and Prix Ganay winner from his first crop, and Ivanhowe, who won four Group 1s across both hemispheres and stands at Haras de Cercy.

Last Sunday, Soldier Hollow (pictured below) was unlucky not to sire a 1,000 Guineas winner as Tamfana flew home after an interrupted run to be fourth, beaten just a length, but there may be another opportunity for the Group 3 Prix Miesque winner to become her sire's sixth Group 1 winner.

Daivid Menuisier and Soldier Hollow's daughter Tamfana after victory in the Group 3 Prix Miesque at Chantilly

Von Finck says: "Tamfana had such an unlucky race in the Guineas at Newmarket, it would have been a great story if she had won for Soldier Hollow. She ran a big, big race and I would have loved it if she could have won, but maybe she can be luckier on her next start and win the Prix de Diane."

Over jumps her sire has also proven a success.

Willie Mullins trained the Grade 1 Morgiana and Punchestown Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle winner Saldier and Arctic Fire, successful in the Hatton's Grace. Earlier this year, Soldier Hollow sired his first Cheltenham Festival winner; Boodles winner Lark In The Mornin, who Joseph O'Brien is aiming at Saturday's Swinton Hurdle.

Given the relative size of the German breeding industry, to have accomplished as much as Soldier Hollow has done demonstrates his excellence.

"In Germany there are only a small number of mares compared to other countries and the best mares go to stallions in Ireland, Britain and France, but he did very well as a stallion,” says von Finck. “He had to start small, but every season he did well.

"I think if he was a stallion in Ireland or Britain, he would have been a very big one, because he would have had more mares and more opportunities. He would have been a success anywhere he went."

Soldier Hollow has provided von Finck with brilliant racehorses since he retired to Gestut Auenquelle in 2008, and the paddocks and stables of Gestut Park Wiedingen are populated by the sons and daughters of the horse of a lifetime. 

Of Soldier Hollow's five Group 1 winners, von Finck bred Grosser Preis von Berlin winner and Deutsches Derby third Dschingis Secret. He also bred Destino, a Group 3-winning full-brother to the Haras du Montaigu sire, who was unlucky when runner-up to another son of Soldier Hollow, Weltstar, in the 2018 Deutsches Derby for his owner-breeder. 

Soldier Hollow did, however, enable von Finck to fulfil his dream of breeding a Derby winner.

Helmut von Finck with Sammarco after his victory in the Bayerisches Zuchtrennen in MunichCredit: Helmut von Finck

He says: "I had a wonderful time with him in Germany, I have so many horses on my own farm by Soldier Hollow and mares by him. I bought my stud farm 24 years ago, the same year I bought Soldier Hollow, and all the horses I have here are influenced by Soldier Hollow. 

“He is a very good broodmare sire and I won the Derby with Sammarco, a colt I bred out of Saloon Sold by Soldier Hollow."

Mixing Soldier Hollow's genes with the family of Waky Nao, the Group 1 Premio Vittorio di Capua winner von Finck bred, has borne fruit and could, poignantly, provide the richest of harvests this year.

"This year we have bred the Group 3 Bavarian Classic winner and Derby favourite Wilko out of a Soldier Hollow mare we bred on the farm,” he explains.

“The mare, Whispering Angel, was champion two-year-old filly in Germany and is a full-sister to Winning Spirit, who won another Listed race last year and was fourth in the Derby, to Wangari, who was a Listed winner in France, and to Western Soldier, who was beaten a nose in the Group 3 Fruhjahrs-Meile.”

As a broodmare sire Soldier Hollow's influence has spread to Japan, where Group 1 NHK Mile Cup winner Schnell Meister, a son of Kingman and Soldier Hollow's Preis der Diana winner Serienholde, began his stud career at Shadai Stallion Station this spring.

Destino holds the distinction of being the only stallion son of Soldier Hollow at stud in Germany; he resides at Gestut Westerberg, and the idea of keeping the flame burning that was lit by Soldier Hollow is an important one.

"I think Destino was a better horse than Dschingis Secret," von Finck remarks. "He won a Group 3 after the Derby but was injured in the race. We tried to bring him back to race but we couldn't so he started his stallion career.  

Destino: only son of Soldier Hollow at stud in GermanyCredit: Gestut Westerberg

“It’s difficult with a horse who does not have a long career or win a Group 1, it’s not very easy to make a successful stallion, but we are trying. 

"It would be nice to keep the legacy going."

That legacy is guarded by von Finck, for whom Soldier Hollow was more than a horse. He is the sire or broodmare sire of the ten horses he has in training and the sire of three juveniles that the owner-breeder has with Peter Schiergen. 

He says: "We have four yearlings and four foals by Soldier Hollow and we’ll take two very beautiful Soldier Hollow yearlings to the auction in Baden-Baden later this year."

Soldier Hollow will always remain an important element of life at Gestut Park Wiedingen, and for the man who believed in the little son of In The Wings from the beginning, when others doubted him, the gratitude and love he feels for Soldier Hollow is infinite. 

"I think about everything that I have experienced with Soldier Hollow, it was fantastic and 24 years is a good age,” he says. 

“He did everything right for me in his life and he did everything so well and I think it was his time; he had done everything and he had a good life, a long life and I was very lucky to have had him in my life. I’m thankful for Soldier Hollow, I’m sad that he’s not here any more, but he’s in my heart and always will be.  

"He was my hero, he was my life, he was my passion, he was everything. He was the complete horse. And he was not only a horse, he was a friend and something very special for me."

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