One of Germany's best races takes place at Hoppegarten this Sunday with a recent honour roll to rival some of the best 2400m races in the world.

Rebel's Romance (twice), Al Riffa, Simca Mille, Alpinista and Torquator Tasso have won the race in recent years, with Alpinista and Torquator Tasso both going on to win the Prix de l'arc de Triomphe the following year.

This year's field is headlined by Almeric for the very much in-form Andrew Balding yard who has just found a couple better each time he's stepped out this campaign, but in strong company.

First up he was a distant third to Saddadd who then placed in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland, then he battled well for third to arguably the best middle-distance horse in the world in Ombudsman before stepping up to a mile and a half last time behind Rebel's Romance.

It's the third in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown two starts ago that is of most note however because he started shorter and beat home Wimbledon Hawkeye, who ran very well at Ascot and then came to Germany and ran a 0.6 length third in the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis Bayerische Zuchtrennen at Munich.

We've seen that form stack up well in Germany and if Almeric can run to his best form he'll take plenty of beating.

The local defence is led by Global Health for the Fabian Weissmeier stable who comes through the typical lead up, the Grosser Hansa-Preis over the same track and distance.

He proved too strong up on a moderate tempo and put up a good rating there which can challenge Almeric if the English galloper isn't at his best.

The other one of interest is Tornado Alert for Godolphin who do like to target some of these German Group Ones for great success.

The query with him is he's had a year off the scene but he did win the Dallmayr-Preis Bayerische Zuchtrennen at Munich last year which clearly says he's good enough.

We'll side with Almeric who is bursting to a win a race and finds an ideal one off his recent runs in strong English races.

World Pool will return to Germany on 9 August for Grosser Preis von Berlin Day from Hoppegarten, with four races set to be globally commingled.

Image: Racecourse - Hoppegarten (Germany)