Mare Australis

Mare Australis began his track career in a maiden race over 1,600 metres on soft ground at Munich on 3 November. Ridden by Filip Minarik he started the 11/10 favourite and won by half a length from the filly Zamrud.^[5]

At the end of 2019, Gestut Schlenderhan closed their private training facility. For the 2020 season, Mare Australis moved into the ownership of Corinna Baronin Von Ullmann and was transferred to the stable of André Fabre at Chantilly in France.^[6] On his first appearance for his new connections, Mare Australis started favourite for the Prix Tourbillon over 2,100 metres at Saint-Cloud Racecourse on 12 May, but finished fourth behind Port Guillaume, Gold Trip and Dawn Intello, beaten three lengths by the winner. On 14 June, the colt was moved up in class and distance for the Listed Prix de l'Avre over 2,400 metres at Chantilly Racecourse in which he was ridden, as in all of his 2020 starts, by Pierre-Charles Boudot. He started the 1.7/1 favourite and won by a short neck from Frohsim.^[7] On his only subsequent start, Mare Australis contested the Group 2 Prix du Conseil de Paris on heavy ground at Longchamp Racecourse on 25 October. He was in contention from the start and stayed on well in the straight but failed by a head to overhaul the Irish-trained favourite Baron Samedi.^[8]

Mare Australis began his third campaign in the Group 3 Prix d'Harcourt over 2,000 metres at Longchamp on 11 April. With Boudot in the saddle he started at odds of 7.8/1 and finished second to the six-year-old gelding Skalleti, beaten a length by the odds-on favourite.^[9] On 2 May, the colt was moved up to Group 1 class for the first time to contest the Prix Ganay over 2,100 metres at the same track and started the 5/2 second favourite behind Mogul in a seven-runner field which also included Magny Cours (Gala Stakes), Gold Trip (Prix Greffulhe), Ecrivain (Prix des Chenes) and Wonderful Moon (Union-Rennen). Boudot sent Mare Australis into the lead from the start and he was never seriously challenged, winning by one and three quarter lengths from Gold Trip despite being eased down in the closing stages.^[10] After the race, Fabre was asked about the horse's prospects in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe over 2,400 metres at the same track in October. He responded, "He'll be a better horse in the autumn and I always thought he was a horse for the Arc. He's just as good over both distances. He had no issues, he was just backward. I don't know if he'll run in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud or just a prep race and then the Arc."^[11]