In Swoop came with lightning finish to land Sunday’s Deutsches Derby (2400m) at Hamburg.
Settled well back and racing wide to the home turn, In Swoop was switched inside and then came charging through between horses inside the final 200m to win going away over Torquator Tasso (Alderflug) by three-quarters of a length with Grocer Jack (Oasis Dream) the same distance away third.
Trained in France by Francis-Henri Graffard, In Swoop was unraced at two and Sunday was just his third start after finishing runner-up in the Gr2 Prix Greffulhe at Longchamp last time out.
“He was a horse with little experience going into the race, but had improved quite a lot from the Greffulhe,” Graffard told Jour de Galop.
“Ronan (Thomas) gave him a beautiful ride and it went exactly as we had planned, which was to avoid all the scrimmaging in the race. I knew he would quicken well from the top of the straight and I’m sure he will improve more.
“There is nothing for him now until September and the G1 Grand Prix de Paris, so we will bring him back for that.”
Thomas said there is still further improvement to come from In Swoop.
“We knew there’d be some pace beforehand so we decided it would be best to give him a chance to find his own rhythm. As expected, it was fast and that’s what he did,” Thomas said.
“I started to get an idea where to go on the final bend and down the middle was the best way home. He can be a little bit lazy at times, but he’s a big baby who only started his season two months’ ago.
“He’s still learning, he hasn’t finished improving and I think he will get better race by race.”