by Myra Lewyn

Gestut Auenquelle’s homebred Oriental Tiger set a sizzling pace and was never challenged en route to a convincing victory on Sunday in the Rheinland-Pokal der Sparkasse KolnBonn (Ger-G1) at Cologne.

The five-year-old Tiger Hill horse crossed the finish line in complete control for a seven-length victory over Deutsches Derby (Ger-G1) victor Kamsin.

Papal Bull, runner-up to Duke of Marmalade in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Eng-G1) on July 26 at Ascot, failed to gain any ground on the winner. He finished a half-length behind Kamsin in third under Ryan Moore in the six-horse field.

Oriental Tiger covered 2,400 meters (11.93 furlongs) under Terence Hellier in 2:26.76 on turf rated as good to earn his third group stakes victory of the season and his first win at the highest level.

Trained by Uwe Ostmann, Oriental Tiger emphatically rebounded from a fifth-place finish in the Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft Unternehmen (Ger-G2) on May 25 at Baden-Baden. He began the season with back-to-back clear victories in group stakes at Cologne, after going winless in two starts in 2007.

Oriental Tiger previously distinguished himself at the Group 1 level, finishing second to Prince Flori in the 2006 Grosser Volkswagen Preis von Baden (Ger-G1) after finishing third to Schiaparelli in the ’06 German Derby.
 
German-bred Oriental Tiger, who is out of the Big Shuffle mare Oriental Flower, has won four of 15 career starts. 

Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times Today editor