Sir Mark Prescott taking familiar German route with Tiffany

A breakthrough Group One success is the aim when Tiffany attempts to follow in the footsteps of some Heath House luminaries on her eagerly-awaited return in Sunday’s Preis von Europa.

The Sir Mark Prescott-trained five-year-old progressed through the ranks last season and ended the campaign competing at the highest level, with a placed effort behind Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hopeful Kalpana on British Champions Day followed by an agonising reversal in Munich.

Connections were then dealt a blow with a setback suffered earlier in the spring, halting Tiffany’s quest for further riches so far this season.

However, the Elite Racing Club-owned star is now ready to make up for lost time and having electing against taking the short trip from Prescott’s Newmarket base to the Rowley Mile for Friday’s Princess Royal Stakes, Tiffany will continue dining at the top table in Cologne.

Prescot explained: “She will run in Germany and although she would be favourite for the Group Three in Newmarket with all sorts of good reasons to go there, she was kept in training to try to win a Group One and she’s been placed in two of them, so it was decided, quite rightly, to go to Germany and try to win one there.

“She had a hairline crack to a vertebra in the spring which was very unusual, she had very slight lameness but it was there and we scanned her and that was the reason we discovered.

“We’d have loved to have had two or three runs in the spring, then a breather, then two or three in the autumn but I’m afraid nature decreed it was a longer break than we anticipated.”

Germany has proved a happy hunting ground for Tiffany over the course of her career and amongst her seven victories in 13 career starts are two wins at Baden-Baden and one in Hannover, as well as last year’s season-ending near-miss in the Preis von Bayern.

Going one better in that mid-November Group One is an option available once again for the daughter of Farhh, who retains an entry for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday week.

But first she will bid to recreate the heroics of Kirsten Rausing-owned pair Albanova (2004) and Alpinista (2021) who both won the Preis von Europa for Prescott previously.

“The race has been a good friend and we’ve won it a couple of times and been second in it a couple of times and I would very much like to win it again,” continued Prescott.

“Tiffany needs to win a Group One, she’s won her Group Threes and Group Twos now and while it was attractive to stay close to home and go for the Newmarket race, I think the right decision has been made.

“She’s placed in a couple of them now and was second in the Preis von Bayern at Munich at the end of last year and would probably go there again this year if she was still in good form then.”