Maître de la Piste, Rolling Home and Bergonzi were the victorious four-legged heroes on the second White Turf day on the frozen lake of St. Moritz. Despite the cold wind and a cloudy sky, some 10,000 spectators came to the race course on ice.

Kiss de Sucé’s fifth victory at White Turf in St. Moritz did not happen. Martin Weber passed the finish line with the thirteen-year-old gelding in a mere fifth position while the ovation at the BMW – Grand Trotting Prize of Pontresina was given to Maître de la Piste. Laurence Kindler kept him in second position before attacking on the finishing straight and  taking the lead. With an outstanding advantage of seven lengths the duo was invincible. Maître de la Piste is trained by Jean-Francois Johner in Lausanne.

Paléo des Champs did not want to be among the losers at the final Grand Prix Allegra Passugger. Evelyne Fankhauser led the stallion, trained by her father Theo Fankhauser, at high speed first across the finish line.

With a victory at the Grand Prix Christoffel Bau Trophy, the seven-year-old Rolling Home is in an excellent position to repeat last year’s success at the Grand Prix of St. Moritz in one week. Eduardo Pedroza took the lead with Philipp Schärer’s protégé on the opposite side, but had to struggle right to the end. He finally passed the finish line with an advantage of one length in front of the British guest Halsion Chancer, who attacked fiercely to the very end under Kieren Fox. Rolling Home belongs to ‘Scuderia del clan’, a three-person owner community including White Turf CEO Silvio Martin Staub.

The initial Grand Prix Swiss International Airlines saw African Art, also trained by Philipp Schärer, in front from the start to the finish line. Without great efforts, Eduardo Pedroza took the race in his favour with an advantage of three and a half lengths. The Grand Prix Uvex went to Germany with Designated Decoy, from the stable of Christian von der Recke, being absolutely unbeatable. He won under Alexander Pietsch with an advantage of half a length.

During the Skikjöring at the Credit Suisse Grand Prix of Sils, the expected duel between Gallardo (third) and King George (fourth) did not take place. The victory went to Bergonzi who took the lead with Franco Moro right from the beginning of the race and did not yield to Luberon (Andy Willy) who came second. Christian von der Recke is Bergonzi’s trainer. The suspense will be tremendous next Sunday at the Skikjöring final. Bergonzi and Franco Moro as well as King George and Jakob Broger have ten points each so far while Gallardo and Leo Luminati have a total of eight points.

In all 88,176 Swiss francs crossed the Turf accountant, about 3,000 Swiss francs more than last year.

The First Climate Markets AG presented a certificate to the White Turf. It states that although the three racing days produce 850 tons of CO2, these emissions are compensated by investments in the Windpark Yuntdag climate protection project in Turkey. The greenhouse gases arise from the preparation for races, the coming and going of participants, the catering and the on-site energy consumption.

Press release: www.whiteturf.ch

Images: Andrea Derungs