'Mum couldn't stop crying' – Lazy Griff's breeders taking great delight in his Derby exploits

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On this occasion, Martin Stevens speaks to the German team behind breeding Derby runner-up Lazy Griff – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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Lazy Griff might have finished second to Lambourn in the Derby on Saturday but his connections, including trainer Charlie Johnston and a 24-strong band of Middleham Park Racing members, have that winning feeling – as well they might. 

The colt, who had filled the same position behind Lambourn in the Chester Vase last month, defied market expectations to run an absolute cracker at Epsom, sticking on well and being the only horse to give the front-running winner any sort of fright.

Lazy Griff’s breeders, the Rodde family of Gestut Westerberg in Germany, were also celebrating in the spirit that a runner-up in a race as historic and prestigious as the Derby is better than a winner of nearly all other fixtures in the calendar.

“If you’d told us on Saturday morning that he would finish second we wouldn’t have believed you,” says Annelie Rodde, a familiar face on the sales circuit due to her work with leading British and Irish consignors, and now taking a more active role in the family stud founded and still overseen by her parents Peter and Aline.

“We didn’t manage to get to Epsom but we all roared him home watching the race on TV – Mum couldn’t stop crying. You can rest assured that whatever he goes for next, be it the Irish Derby or German Derby, we’ll be there to cheer him on.”

The Roddes bred Lazy Griff by sending the multiple winner Linarda, a Danish-bred daughter of Rock Of Gibraltar, to the late Melbourne Cup hero Protectionist when he was standing his third-last season at Gestut Rottgen. 

“It’s actually a crazy story how we came to have Linarda,” says Annelie. “We sold her at the BBAG October Yearling Sale and she was bought for €20,000 by a lovely Swiss lady called Marianne Buchi, and my parents became close friends with her.

“Linarda proved to be a very tough racemare, she ran 27 times from two to five. In the early years Marianne was worried about where her beloved filly would go at the end of her racing career, so she was always asking Dad to take her and breed from her. Dad used to tell her maybe, but we’d have to see if she’s good enough. 

“When Linarda won the Swiss Guineas, which is not black-type but is still quite a competitive race, Marianne said triumphantly ‘Peter Rodde has to take her now!’. I think that meant more to her than any prize-money or glory.”

Lazy Griff ran again behind Lambourn in the Chester VaseCredit: Edward Whitaker

Buchi has since passed away, but if she is looking down on her prized mare now she would surely be delighted in how the Roddes have cared for her.

“We started by sending her to sires who weren’t overly exciting from a commercial standpoint but she quickly proved herself as a good broodmare,” says Annelie. “First she went to Pomellato, who we stood at the time, and the result was Life Power, a two-year-old winner in France.

“Then she went to Protectionist for the first time and produced Lambo, a Group 3 winner in Germany and Group 2-placed in France. She went to that sire again in 2018 and produced Limbo Dancer, a three-time winner in Germany, and again in 2021, and out came the colt now known as Lazy Griff.”

Lazy Griff was apparently always a large lad – so much so that he was met with a few raised eyebrows when he was presented by Gestüt Westerberg at BBAG’s premier yearling sale in Baden-Baden two years ago. He was eventually knocked down to free-thinking agent Jeremy Brummitt for €75,000.

“Lazy Griff was big from the beginning,” says Rodde. “We always put our weanlings in a paddock with older horses, and when we weaned him before Christmas he was already the same size as the retired racehorses.

“I really believed in him though. He was always a good mover and straightforward, with a great temperament. But a lot of people at the sales said he was too big, too backward, and he’d never run at two. A few people who looked at him asked if we were trying to sell them a National Hunt horse.

“A lot of credit goes to Jeremy, and my good friend Sebastian Weiss who underbid him, for seeing the swagger in his walk, and understanding that he wasn’t going to grow much more. They’re good judges.

“Bearing in mind what other people were saying about him, it was very gratifying to see him become the first two-year-old runner and first two-year-old winner from our draft that year. It was unbelievable when he won the Group 3 at Chantilly last September [the Prix de Conde].

Jeremy Brummitt has shown himself to be a shrewd observer of German pedigreesCredit: Sarah Farnsworth/Goffs

“Charlie Johnston has done a great job with him and the Middleham Park Racing team has managed him so well. We’re delighted that so many syndicate members enjoy the horse as much as we do. Christophe Soumillon has given him a superb ride every time too. I hope he gets his moment in the winner’s enclosure this year.”

Brummitt is actually two from two with clever purchases from Gestut Westerberg at the BBAG Yearling Sale as he also signed for Lordship for €38,000 in 2021. The son of Lord Of England won four races at three for William Haggas, including valuable handicaps at Haydock and York that took his career earnings to around £130,000, and he was sold to Australian interests for 160,000gns at the end of that season.

“I think really highly of Jeremy,” says Rodde. “What I particularly admire is that he comes to a German sale and actually tries to buy a yearling with a German page that couldn’t be found in Britain or Ireland, whereas pinhookers also do well, but they tend to go for commercial pedigrees that they are comfortable with.

“Jeremy really studies German breeding and form, and looks at horses with more of an open mind, and he always seems to find something in Germany.”

More and more British and Irish buyers are wising up to the value of German yearlings, whatever their pedigree, Rodde says.

“Shane Power from Tradewinds Stud bought a Sottsass filly from us for €22,500 last year and tripled his money with her at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale, and we were delighted for him,” she continues. 

“Rodgie Kavanagh of Glending Stables bought a Study Of Man half-sister to German Oaks runner-up Diamond Dove from us for €38,000 and sold her for 85,000gns at the same auction and she’s now in training with John and Thady Gosden, which is incredibly exciting.

“It goes to show there absolutely is value to be had in the German yearling market, especially when there’s so much talk in Britain and Ireland at the moment about returning to stamina, because people can see the better resale opportunities with staying horses compared with sprinters. 

“Look also at the changes being made to the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot, with the distance being increased to six furlongs and horses only qualifying if their sire won over at least seven furlongs at two or at least a mile at three. It could all help German bloodstock, which specialises in sound horses who race over middle distances or staying events, although we do produce some nice sprinters too.”

This year’s BBAG yearling sales in summer and autumn will be the last chance to secure lots by Lazy Griff’s sire Protectionist, whose death in 2023 contributed to some recent weakness in the upper echelons of the German stallion ranks. 

Rodde is optimistic for the country’s sire-power in future, though.

“It’s actually quite exciting at the moment,” says Rodde. “Japan, who is a beautifully bred and really top-class horse, has his first two-year-olds. Tradewinds also did well with a colt by him pinhooked from BBAG, turning €32,000 into 110,000gns.

“Alson is also one to look forward to. I know Philipp von Ullmann is supporting him a lot and, in what I think is a very clever move, he has put three or four of his first two-year-olds in training with Joseph O’Brien. I’ve spoken to a few lads in the yard there and they think quite highly of them, so that gives us all a lot of hope.

Japan is a new hope of the German stallion ranksCredit: Mark Cranham

“Then of course we have the first yearlings by Torquator Tasso, an Arc winner by a great sire in Adlerflug, coming up for sale this year. Things are definitely looking up.”

Gestut Westerberg’s draft of around 20 yearlings at BBAG this year will feature representatives all those promising young sires, as well as a Siyouni colt out of Tangut, a Group 3-placed Adlerflug mare closely related to Torquator Tasso, and a Starspangledbanner filly out of Deia, a Listed-winning Soldier Hollow full-sister to champion Dschingis Secret and Deutsches Derby runner-up Destino, who stands at Westerberg. 

The last-named lots will be consigned on behalf of Annelie's uncle Georg von Opel, a major owner and partner in many Coolmore superstars who races under the Westerberg banner in honour of the family farm. His silks were carried by Derby third Tennessee Stud, to give this year’s Classic a distinctly Westerberg flavour.

Sadly the Gestüt Westerberg yearling consignment this year won’t contain a sibling to Lazy Griff, as Linarda has suffered bad luck at stud in recent years, with another foal by Protectionist dying and her failing to get in foal to Teofilo. 

However, she is now in foal to Make Believe, and if the pregnancy is carried to full term and results in a filly, a name has already been decided for her – one that will honour her late, caring owner who entrusted her to the Roddes.

“Dad has said her next filly will be called Marianne,” says Rodde. “I know you might think that a foal has to be given a name with the same initial letter as the dam in Germany, but we looked it up in the rule book and you can skip a generation and go back to the granddam. Thankfully, Linarda’s dam was Miss Skycat.”

If the future Marianne has even half of her half-brother Lazy Griff’s talent and tenacity, she will pay a handsome compliment to the much-missed owner of Linarda.

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