Alpinista Tops Field in Grossen Preis Von Bayern

The classy filly Alpinista  bids for hat-trick of victories at the highest level in Germany when she returns to take on five rivals in the final group 1 of the year in Europe in the Nov. 7 Allian—Grosser Preis Von Bayern (G1).

The Sir Mark Prescott-trained grey, who is unbeaten in her four starts this year, has some high-class form in the book, notably when kicking off her group 1 spree at the expense of subsequent Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) hero Torquator Tasso  in the Longines 131st Grosser Preis von Berlin (G1) at Hoppegarten in August.

The daughter of Frankel , who is owned by Prescott's longtime backer Kirsten Rausing, then followed up on a return to Germany for the Preis von Europa (G1) at Cologne in September when she accounted for the reopposing Nerium .

Others in the field here include a second British runner in the shape of the fellow Newmarket trainee Believe In Love , in the care of Roger Varian.

The 4-year-old, who has hitched a lift on the Prescott horsebox to get to Munich, was last seen going down by just a short neck to Loving Dream  in the Qatar Prix de Royallieu (G1) at Longchamp on Arc weekend.

Prescott said: "It's late in the year, but Alpinista seems fine in herself and on ratings would have the best chance in the race. They've had a bit of rain over there which is unfortunate as she likes it best when it's riding on top, but she'll still give a good account. Win, lose or draw, the plan is to keep her in training next year."

On Alpinista's defeat of subsequent Arc winner Torquator Tasso in the summer, Prescott said: "It's a nice piece of form, no doubt about it, and as I recall, the runner-up didn't have the run of the race that day. It also was nice ground which suited our filly, but perhaps the second needed it a bit softer as it was when he won at Longchamp."

As regards to the travel arrangements to get to Germany, Prescott joked: "We've been asked to take Mr. Varian's filly along with us which I said was fine as long as we had a written undertaking that their filly would finish behind us in the race. My office have said that no such communication has yet arrived!"