Newmarket Saturday
Betfred 2000 Guineas Stakes
AFTER recent wins for Coroebus and Notable Speech, the Betfred 2000 Guineas went to Godolphin for the third time in recent years as 9/2 second-favourite Ruling Court (Charlie Appleby/William Buick) got first run on Field Of Gold (John and Thady Gosden/Kieran Shoemark) and made it count to win by half a length from the unlucky second.
Stablemate Shadow Of Light (Mickael Barzalona) led into the dip, but Ruling Court took over there as Field Of Gold, who had travelled notably well, got a little unbalanced, and by the time he had regathered full momentum, the winner was just beyond recall.
The pair were a length and a half clear of Shadow Of Light at the line. Kieran Shoemark bravely faced the cameras to explain what went wrong on Field Of Gold, but John Gosden, still awaiting a first 2000 Guineas winner, was not impressed, and Shoemark was sacked as automatic first choice rider for the Clarehaven stable soon after the dust had settled.
William Buick made a bold move to ride the winner in preference to Middle Park and Dewhurst winner Shadow Of Light, but was fully justified in his decision, with Ruling Court living up to the big home reputation he had last year. The winner was strongly fancied to beat The Lion In Winter in the Acomb Stakes at York last August but could finish only third. He was then given time off before making a successful return in the Jumeirah Guineas at Meydan in March when equipped with the tongue strap he retained at Newmarket.
Giving thanks
Charlie Appleby said: “I could spend all day here thanking everybody, but everyone knows what they’ve done. Each year it gets harder. It was a great race coming into it - John’s horse there looked great and the way he won the Craven - he was the horse we all had to beat.
“It’s been hard for William. It’s a tough call to get off a champion two-year-old but the team have done a great job, and I feel we’ve all collectively got our heads together and got the right people on the right horses.
“Most importantly it’s great for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and Team Godolphin. He was a purchased horse as we know but Justify is a sire we saw a bit of last year and we felt that ought to be involved as well and he’s been an exciting horse since we purchased him.”
As the only Godolphin horse currently entered in the Derby, Appleby was asked if the plan was now to run Ruling Court at Epsom.
“It’ll be interesting to see what William’s got to say,” was the reply. “But let’s let the dust settle and enjoy the moment. Then we’ll start to map things out from there on. I feel like I’m getting older, but you enjoy these days, and you learn to enjoy them because they’re special. You can go through the season’s highs and lows, and I’ve always tried to teach myself to enjoy them. William and I have sat down enough times flying around the world, saying ‘let’s try and sit back and enjoy it sometimes’.”
THE Group 3 Hong Kong Jockey Club World Pool Palace House Stakes looked ultra-competitive on paper, and it took a career-best performance for Rumstar (Jonny Portman/Rob Hornby) to take the spoils by a length and a quarter from She’s Quality (Jack Davison/James Ryan). Democracy Dilemma set a strong pace before weakening tamely two furlongs out, and Rumstar, who was held up in midfield initially, came with a strong run on the far side to lead a furlong out. Clarendon House (Robert Cowell/Sean Levey) was third, beaten three and three-quarter lengths in total by the 7/1 winner, who holds a King Charles III Stakes entry at Royal Ascot.
Portman said: “We’ve been very much looking forward to running him. It seems to have been a long time since last October, waiting for him to get back on the track. He’s been in fantastic form and looking great this year. It’s great to be back and have him winning in this company.
“I had to ring the owner the other day and ask for permission to spend £4,000 or whatever it was to enter him for Royal Ascot. He still hasn’t recovered and that is why he isn’t here today!
“I think now we’ve spent that money we’ve got to go there now. Do I think he is a Group 1 horse? I think that’s probably optimistic. Group 1 races are a different ball game and we’re under no illusions – we’ll enjoy today.”
Newmarket Sunday
Betfred 1000 Guineas
DESERT Flower (Charlie Appleby/William Buick) capped an unbelievable weekend for Godolphin by winning the Betfred 1000 Guineas on Sunday to give Sheikh Mohammed’s operation an unprecedented clean sweep of the classic on either side of the Atlantic, with both the Kentucky Oaks and Derby also falling to the boys in blue.
Desert Flower, sent off at even-money favourite broke well from a low draw and made most of the running to score comfortably by a length from the Ollie Sangster pair Flight (Oisin Murphy) and Simmering (Dylan Browne McMonagle).
The runner-up edged ahead briefly a furlong from home, but Desert Flower quickly regained the ascendancy and was beginning to go away again at the line. Lake Victoria, the winner’s biggest rival on paper, looked in need of the run as hinted beforehand, and finished out of the placings for O’Brien and Moore.
The winner went unbeaten in four runs as a juvenile, culminating in a romp in the Fillies’ Mile over course and distance. She hit the line hard here and that augurs well for her chances of staying further, with a trip to Epsom for the Oaks beckoning.
Appleby said: “It’s been amazing. It took long enough to win a Guineas with the colts and the fillies have been hard to come by. With the fillies, it’s not a page I often look at in the conditions book as we haven’t had many. So, when people ask me is she the best filly we’ve had, she is by far, yes.
Stepping up
“I see no reason why she can’t potentially stretch up to the mile and a half. She does all her best work in the last furlong, and she settles well, so it’s just a nice conversation to have. The filly herself is the one who deserves the plaudits today. She’s an unbeaten filly and we came here with a lot of confidence as everyone knows and she’s gone and delivered - it’s her day.
“We’ll make a plan now, whether it’s Ascot or whether we decide whether she’s capable of stepping up a bit further, we’ll have those healthy discussions.”
Asked about the significance of Godolphin’s clean sweep over the weekend, and for Sheikh Mohammed in particular, he added: olds because he knows they’re the future!
“It’s been a great weekend for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and Team Godolphin. What’s happened this weekend has just been remarkable, in America with the Derby and the Oaks and the two Guineas here, I don’t think it’s ever been done before, and it’ll probably be a long time before it’s done again.
“The Kentucky Derby has been on the bucket list for more than 30 years. He’s had plenty of goes at it, so to do that is an amazing feat but to do what has been done this weekend is why he’s so passionate about it.”
GODOLPHIN’S excellent weekend continued apace when the four-year-old Cinderella’s Dream (Charlie Appleby/William Buick) came home the impressive winner of the Group 2 Betfred Dahlia Stakes over nine furlongs, turning the tables with runner-up Elmalka (Roger Varian/Silvestre de Sousa) who had beaten her into seventh in the 1000 Guineas at this meeting a year earlier.
The winner, who was having her first domestic outing since the 2024 Guineas, has improved in the interim, winning a pair of graded races in New York before finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar.
The daughter of Shamardal started at 11/8 favourite and was settled at the rear by Buick before making headway to take the lead entering the final furlong to win by four and a half lengths, with stablemate Beautiful Love (Ryan Moore) a further three-parts of a length back in third.
Winning trainer Charlie Appleby said: “She has sharpened up over the last couple of weeks and Will rode her with the confidence you just saw there. To be brutally honest, there was a bit of a tailwind there which can be an advantage when you are trying to drop one in.
Back for more
“Our plan before today was to go back to Saratoga for the Diana Stakes and have a crack at that. I know Simon’s filly [the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained Choisya] is going back to America too so we’ll be trying to keep away from her. The grand plan for this filly would be to work back from the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf once again.”
Appleby also gave an update on his 2000 Guineas pair, adding: “Both horses came out of their race fine with no problems at all and when they were led out, they did all the right stuff.
“The plan as we stand at the moment is for Ruling Court to head to the Derby but like I said, we will just let everything calm down for a week.
“With Shadow Of Light, Mickael said he just wished he had something which had taken him through the race a little bit longer. He thought he stayed, and the mile was no problem.
“We’ll again let it settle down and decide whether we go for the St James’s Palace or have a crack at the Commonwealth Cup. It may be the Commonwealth Cup is the easier option, but I don’t see any real reason why we should stray away from a mile.”
THE Listed Pretty Polly Stakes started the card on Sunday and the race went to 6/4 favourite Falakeyah (Owen Burrows/Jim Crowley), who made all for a facile three-and-a-quarter-length success over Life Is Beautiful (John and Thady Gosden/Rab Havlin). Often an excellent trial for the Oaks at Epsom, Burrows was careful not to commit his inexperienced charge to the challenge next month.
“You have got to be very impressed with her,” said her trainer on welcoming her back to the winner’s enclosure. “There was no real plan as such, and we said we’ll just see how she lands out the gate as she is a big filly with a big stride. She has set her own fractions and did it the hard way.
“She was only a once-raced filly who won on the all-weather at the back end of last year and you never know how they will handle conditions until you try but she is a well-balanced filly. She changed her legs a couple of times in the dip which she is entitled to do. She looks very exciting.”