Lavello and Al Hakeem shine in Derby prep races. LAVELLO was one of ZARAK’s 18 two-year-old winners last year, when he won the hotly contested Torquator Tasso Rennen over a mile on 17 October at Baden Baden. Now aged three, the colt was making his seasonal debut on Sunday in the Gr.3 Bavarian Classic at Munich. Positioned midfield in the turn, he quickened smartly in the straight to win by 1 ¾ lengths with plenty in reserve.

His jockey Adrie de Vries said: “He travelled well throughout and I was always able to canter freely. We allowed Quirin to pull us into the straight and, when my horse picked up, he did so nicely and made it through to the finish line in very good style. He won’t have any problems staying longer distances.”

LAVELLO carries the colours of his breeder, Gestüt Ittlingen and hails from the family of German Derby winners Lando, Lacario and Laroche. He will attempt to emulate them and is due to line up in the Classic held at Hamburg in July. He became the fourth Stakes winner of his young sire ZARAK, who has a handful of Classic prospects this season.

Two days later in France, SIYOUNI was represented by another impressive three-year-old in AL HAKEEM who put in an impressive performance to land the Listed Prix de Suresnes by four lengths at Chantilly. The smart colt was registering his third consecutive win for owner-breeder Al Shaqab Racing and he will be aimed at the Prix du Jockey Club Gr.1 next month.

His trainer Jean-Claude Rouget was full of praise and compared him to another winner of the race that he knew well, Sottsass, who is like AL HAKEEM and like last year’s winner of the race St Mark’s Basilica, bred on the successful SIYOUNI x Galileo cross.