European Trainer Magazine - Michael Figge

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European Trainer ISSUE 39 – AUTUMN 2012

European

ISSUE 39 – AUTUMN 2012 £5.95

www.europe.trainermagazine.com

THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE FOR THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE THOROUGHBRED

MICHAEL FIGGE

The up-and-coming trainer from Munich, taking the right risks

Publishing Ltd

JOCKEY FEES AND TRAINERS PERCENTAGES Who gets what across Europe?

Is China the new racing frontier?

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GILES ANDERSON Michael Figge’s rise to prominence

UR MAIN trainer profile in this, our autumn issue of European Trainer, is on the up and coming Michael Figge. Figge rose to prominence this year with victory in the Italian Derby by his horse Feuerblitz, a €3,000 purchase as a yearling from BBAG. Reading Figge’s story, it would be easy to say that both Figge and the owner of Feuerblitz have certainly made their own luck and prove once again that you don’t have to buy the fancy-pedigreed horses at the sales to win the biggest prizes, but you have to be prepared to take risks as well.

Michael Figge’s main owner – Patrick Bertermann – is a relative newcomer to the sport. In his professional life, he heads up a very well regarded digital advertising agency in Munich and now has more than ten horses in training. I for one think we’ll be hearing plenty more about this partnership on the European circuit in the months to come.

Our major study in this issue is on trainer and jockey fees across Europe. We’ve put together a set of statistics on prize money, riding fees, trainers’ percentages, and staff wages. The article makes for interesting reading and it reveals some massive variances across Europe.

Dr Catherine Dunnett examines the role of beetroot in the horse’s diet. Human athletes are turning to it more and more as an excellent

natural source of antioxidants and nitrate content. Earlier this year, studies were conducted with a group of long distance runners and cyclists, and the results showed an increase in stamina. As Catherine states, no similar study has yet been undertaken amongst horses but its incorporation within a diet could certainly be of benefit to any feeding regime.

At this time of the season, Flat racing always takes on an international feel, with big international race meetings every month between now and the end of the year. One country not yet on the international radar is China. Much has been written and discussed about how China is going to become the new big frontier for racing; only time will tell if tell if that is true, and the article in this issue sets the scene for where the industry currently is in that republic.

We also catch up with news from the Asian Racing Conference in Turkey, look at how the effects of laminitis could be reduced with the use of cryotherapy, examine the latest work done on fracture repairs, as well as profile Yasutoshi Ikee – who with Arc-bound stable star Orfevre is bidding to emulate his father’s international training success. If that’s not enough, we also tell the story of the link between the King’s Royal Hussars and racing.

So wherever racing takes you this autumn, good luck! n

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Issue 39

CONTENTS...

10 TRM Trainer of the quarter

Pat Shanahan, former-jockey-turnedtrainer of Debuntant Stakes winner My Special J’s.

12 Michael Figge

David Conolly-Smith introduces us to Munich’s Classic-winning trainer Michael Figge.

20 Jockey and trainer fees

Lissa Oliver delves into the financial aspects of how prize money gets distributed among trainers, jockeys, and stable staff across Europe.

30 To beet, or not to beet

36 Yasutoshi Ikee

Meet the man who trains Japanese Horse of the Year Orfevre, who will visit Europe this autumn with a view to winning the Arc, by Isabel Mathew.

42 Laminitis and cryotherapy

Using cryotherapy as a means to ward off laminitis, by Stacey Oke.

48 Asian Racing Conference

Geir Stabell summarises some of the goings-on at the Asian Racing Conference held in Turkey in July.

56 Standing fracture repair

Polly Compston and Celia Marr on the new procedure to repair fractures with the patients standing and under local anaesthetic.

Is beetroot a good addition to the equine athlete’s diet?, by Catherine Dunnett.

60 Chinese racing by

Golden opportunities may await horseracing in an unexpected place, Suzy Crossman and Marco Wong.

66 All the King’s horses

Clive Webb-Carter writes on some of the fascinating racing history associated with the King’s Royal Hussars.

70 Product Focus 76 Stakes Schedules

Forthcoming stakes races from Europe and around the world.

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PROFILE

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MICHAEL FIGGE

MICHAEL FIGGE

Stepping out into the big time

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PROFILE

Michael Figge hit the headlines earlier this year when he saddled Feuerblitz, a €3,000 pick from the BBAG autumn sale, to win the Derby Italiano.

The Munich-based son of leading trainer Wolfgang Figge has a supportive owner behind him and plenty of decent youngsters to help propel him into the limelight.

WORDS: DaviD COnOlly-Smith PhOtOS: FRanK SORGE/GalOPPFOtO.DE

B

Y FAR the most important training centre in Germany is Cologne, but after that there is little between Hoppegarten (Berlin), Hanover, Iffezheim (Baden-Baden), and Munich. Munich, the capital of Bavaria, is one of the most attractive cities in Europe and has a very pleasant racecourse at Riem, about five miles east of the city. There is also a training area behind the racecourse – a luxury very few other German tracks possess – with over 200 horses in training there.

For many years the Munich trainers played second or even third fiddle to their colleagues from Cologne and elsewhere. They got the occasional big handicap or Listed race, but nothing more. This has all changed in the last few years and suddenly Munich-trained runners are all over the place. Wolfgang Figge was for many years the leading trainer here and he set the ball rolling in 2009 when his filly Night Magic won the Preis der Diana (German Oaks) to become the first classic winner trained in Munich. The following year she won the Grosser Preis von Baden and was voted Horse of the Year in Germany – both firsts for Munich. She was owned by Stall Salzburg (Hans-Gerd Wernecke), his main patron.

Now Wolfgang Figge has competition from two upand-coming trainers in Munich – Irishman John Hillis, who has made an excellent start; and Figge senior’s own son, 39-year-old Michael Figge, who hit the headlines earlier this year by saddling Feuerblitz to win the Italian Derby. The eldest of three

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MICHAEL FIGGE

Stable star Feuerblitz, winner of the Derby Italiano

boys, Michael Figge was brought up in a racing stable and was a successful amateur jockey, riding in FEGENTRI races all over Europe and gathering valuable international experience.

The idea was that Michael should also become a trainer, and he became an assistant to his father in 2003. Wolfgang is an excellent trainer with one big weakness: he is not much good as a businessman, and as a result of his failure to file proper returns and pay social security for his employees, he ended up in court and was banned from running his own business. Michael was therefore installed as the manager of the stable and basically his father’s employer. Not surprisingly this arrangement did not last; after several disagreements, there was an acrimonious split in 2006. Wernecke, who is a proper businessman, stepped in to take over Wolfgang’s stable, with happy results for both of them, while Michael started out on his own with just two horses out in the sticks.

In 2007 Michael moved back to Riem and was given stabling at the racecourse. “I was lucky,” he now says, “as I had a good owner to start with – an Englishman named Simon Bold – who was based in Gibraltar and wanted to establish his betting business Betbull in Germany. He had a decent handicapper, Cyclonic, who won several races for us, and then a classy horse Double Handful, of whom we had high hopes.” Double Handful even ran in the German Derby, finishing 16th of 17 after making much of the running. When Bold closed down the Betbull operation in Germany, Double Handful was sent to the UK and is now quite a useful hurdler for Venetia Williams.

Michael’s main owner became Peter Vischer, a member of a well-known German racing family but who now has his horses trained in

“Cappanelle is a similar course to Hamburg. There was excellent prizemoney, and although we were not really expecting to win, we certainly hoped to pick up some place money” Michael Figge France. The decisive moment in Michael Figge’s training career, however, came in August 2010, when he met Patrick Bertermann for the first time. Bertermann had built up an online marketing business and was wellknown in Munich’s night life. He came to the stables to take photos of Michael’s girlfriend Claudia Fleissner, a model, and was fascinated by the atmosphere of the racing stables. They all went off to lunch together, where Michael explained in detail how racing worked.

Bertermann was hooked and wanted to start his own stable straight away. Figge advised him to put a toe in the water before jumping in head first, suggesting he start off by buying a horse out of a “reclamer” in France. Two weeks later they were in Longchamp. Figge had picked out a suitable race and there were two runners in it that he liked. They finished first and second, a tribute to his judgment, and Bertermann made a claim for the runner-up

Jolie Salsa, a daughter of Kingsalsa. Bertermann registered his colours – pink and black – and a nom de course – Stall EIVISSA, after the island of Ibiza where he lived for part of the year. Jolie Salsa won a race for him. She was “a very nice filly” but difficult to train as she was frequently in season. She still belongs to Bertermann and is in foal to Soldier Hollow.

Later in 2010 Wolfgang Figge, by now on good terms again with his eldest son, trained Night Magic to win the Grosser Preis von Baden.

At the next Munich meeting, the filly was paraded in front of the crowd and Bertermann was so impressed by her career and earnings that he then started buying horses in earnest – “one every fortnight,” as Figge puts it – preferably yearling fillies. Out of a Saint-Cloud claimer he also bought Amazing Beauty, now a Listed race performer, and at Deauville (October) he paid €22,000 for Chica Loca, one of Germany’s top fillies last year and seventh in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches in 2012.

Unfortunately she was injured in her next start, and it is not certain when or if she will be able to run again.

His best buy, however, was Feuerblitz, whom Figge picked up for an astonishing €3,000 at the BBAG autumn sale for another owner of his. That man ran out of money and Figge passed Feuerblitz, who has a good pedigree and was probably so cheap “because he was ugly,” on to Bertermann. The colt’s price had risen sharply in the meantime, but it was still a good buy. By the spring of this year Figge and Bertermann knew that they had a smart prospect on their hands.

Their aim was the German Derby, but after he had run well in a trial for that race, he was sent to Rome to contest the Derby Italiano.

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PROFILE

Top: Figge has a close bond with his horses.

Above left: Figge treats his horses with homeopathic remedies for minor complaints such as muscular pains.

Above right: Coffee break for the Figge team Left: Figge’s girlfriend Claudia Fleissner (left) rides out and is the stable’s amateur rider. She is also a model and professional go-go dancer

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PROFILE their nerves. The big advantage here is that the horses can continue in training while being given this treatment. Also, of course, as they are all natural remedies in small quantities, there are no illegal substances that could show up in doping tests. I also like to give my horses, particularly the fillies, water therapy and take them for regular walks in a nearby brook. I find that this is good for the psyche as well as the legs and gives them peace of mind.”

This year has been easily his best ever. His stable had won more races by July than in any of the previous years, and although his prize winnings are also his best ever, a large proportion of it comes from the Italian Derby (when it gets paid). With Feuerblitz still on the go and some very promising two-year-olds in the pipeline, the autumn promises to be just as successful.

An important factor in his success has been his girlfriend Fleissner. This very attractive young lady wears several hats: she rides out for Figge and is also the stable’s amateur (with no wins yet but several places), but she is best known for other activities. She is a model and

“One must be prepared to take risks, as for example, our decision to run Feuerblitz in the Italian Derby. Everybody advised us against this step, but we went for it and were rewarded” Figge likes to walk his horses in a nearby brook which acts as a water therapy

Michael Figge

“People told me I was crazy to do this,” remembers Figge, “but it seemed the most suitable race for several reasons. The timing was right, and Cappanelle is a similar course to Hamburg. There was excellent prize-money, and although we were not really expecting to win, we certainly hoped to pick up some place money.” After an excellent ride by Robert Havlin, Feuerblitz got up close home to win the Italian Derby and a purse of €250,000.

Admittedly, up to the time of writing (in midAugust), the money has not yet been paid.

However, despite the problems facing the Italian racing industry, it seems that the money is promised and will be on the way soon.

This, of course, is the kind of problem which all small trainers face, and Figge is lucky to have an understanding owner in Bertermann, who currently owns 13 of the 22 horses in the stable.

Feuerblitz did not win the German Derby, finishing tenth after being badly hampered. He then finished a respectable fifth in the Group

a professional go-go girl – a most unusual job for a trainer’s partner, but nobody is bothered by this although the press like to give it a play.

Wolfgang Figge was apprenticed to the great German trainer Sven von Mitzlaff, very much a horseman of the old school, and his son says that Wolfgang has been his greatest influence.

However, Michael Figge has already shown that he is more than open to modern technology as well, and this seems to run in the family as his younger brother Florian is a website designer.

“My aim is to combine the old traditional methods my father learned from von Mitzlaff with modern innovative techniques, but also to be prepared to use alternative methods,” he says. “And one must be prepared to take risks, as for example, our decision to run Feuerblitz in the Italian Derby. Everybody advised us against this step, but we went for it and were rewarded.” With a good owner behind him and several well-bred youngsters in the yard, the future looks bright for Michael Figge. n

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One Grosser Dallmayr-Preis at Munich before contesting another Munich Group One. Figge’s mother Marika, long-divorced from Wolfgang, has an alternative therapy treatment centre in Deggendorf, about 50 miles from Munich, and Michael did a three-year course there to qualify as a therapist in 2003. These treatments are intended for humans, but Figge has found that many of them are equally effective with horses. He finds homeopathy to be particularly useful; very small doses work with thoroughbreds, who are extremely delicate and sensitive. “I treat all minor complaints myself, such as muscular pains and colds and I also massage my own horses. Of course for major injuries, we call in the vets.” Certainly his treatment seems to be working, as his horses have been running out of their skins this year.

“I give my horses homeopathic remedies in the form of pills, infusions, or injections to help with muscular problems, and it also aids their digestion mobility as well as being good for