Godolphin’s comparatively small band of racehorses based in Dubai have powered Charlie Appleby and Saeed bin Suroor to the top of the World Cup Carnival trainers’ standings, and the two are set to flex their muscles over the next two Carnival meetings at Meydan, starting on Thursday.
From his Marmoom Stables, Appleby has sent out six Carnival winners from just 13 runners during the first half of the Carnival, while at Al Quoz Bin Suroor is close behind with five wins from 21 runners.
On Thursday the pair will saddle 11 horses between them.
Bin Suroor is gunning for a 10th victory in the UAE 1,000 Guineas and fires off a twin-pronged attack in the US$250,000 (Dh918,000) feature in the form of impressive Trial winner Really Special and Voice Of Truth.
Appleby relies on Calare, who, like Voice Of Truth, was no match for Really Special last month.
On Saturday, Bin Suroor and Appleby will combine to send out 16 runners and have a quartet of regally bred colts who are primed to deliver a ninth UAE 2,000 Guineas for their employer.
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■ More: Five horses to watch at Meydan
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Bin Suroor takes the wraps off deeply impressive European Group 1 winner Thunder Snow, who will be ably supported by Best Solution, the Guineas Trial fourth.
Fly At Dawn produced one of the best performances on the Meydan dirt this season of any horse of any age when powering to victory in the Trial and Appleby will be dual-handed with the improving Capezzano.
Godolphin was set up in 1994 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as an elite band of racehorses whose role was to not only plunder the world’s top prizes but plant the UAE flag on foreign soil.
Since then the Dubai-based operation has mushroomed beyond all possible expectations, but last year Godolphin revealed that chief executive John Ferguson had implemented significant pruning, both to bloodstock and racehorses.
Appleby and Bin Suroor have cut back on numbers and have around 20 horses each. They look the leaner and sharper for it.
It is scarcely believable now, but during Meydan’s inaugural season in 2010 Godolphin sent out 195 runners in their Royal Blue silks.
“So far we have enjoyed pretty good success at the Dubai World Cup Carnival,” newly appointed Godolphin assistant racing manager James Clarke said. “Saeed and Charlie lead the trainers’ championship, and this is consistent with a lot of things in terms of our objectives and is part and parcel of our mantra, which is quality over quantity.
“We have been working towards this for much of last year across our racing and breeding stock and are doing everything to have Godolphin competing at the highest level.”
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■ See also: Arrogate nominated for Dubai World Cup
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Godolphin are clearly trying to go back to their foundation tenets, but it is not all going swimmingly.
Bin Suroor and Appleby are playing their roles with distinction, but last season the Godolphin effort was buoyed by the presence of Kiaran McLaughlin, the Dubai World Cup-winning American trainer.
Godolphin initiated the move to have horses shipped in from America, which proved an unbridled success.
McLaughlin stabled horses with Appleby and he saddled three winners from 11 runners.
On World Cup night, Marking ran in the Godolphin Mile, Confrontation in the Dubai Golden Shaheen and Frosted in the main event itself.
This season there has not been a single horse sent over from Godolphin America. According to Clarke, that is not for lack of trying.
“It comes down to whether the American operation has horses that are suited to the Carnival,” he said. “The trainers there just did not have the sort of horses we needed for Dubai.”
McLaughlin has nominated eight horses to the Group 2 UAE Derby but none currently are set to run for Godolphin.
Takaful, Shamsaan and Fayeq, for instance, are three owned by Shadwell, the US racing operation of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid.
Confrontation remained in the UAE at Al Quoz during the summer and makes his seasonal debut in Saturday’s Group 3 Firebreak Stakes, a race that has provided the winner of the Godolphin Mile on World Cup night for two of the past three years.
There are only two other horses running across the two fixtures that originated from America.
Alabaster is one. He last ran for Eoin Harty in America in 2015 and runs in the dirt handicap at 7.40pm, on Thursday. Tumbaga is the other.
He runs on Saturday and also started out with Harty in 2013 but left to race in Europe for the 2015 season before coming to Dubai.
Godolphin are a sleeker operation these days and have clearly earmarked these next two Carnival meetings for rich pickings.
With both UAE Guineas on the line, it is back to a more classic Godolphin.
Saeed bin Suroor expects something special in UAE 1,000 Guineas
Saeed bin Suroor is not the most effervescent of trainers so when the master of Al Quoz really fancies a horse, it is always wise to sit up and take notice.
Bin Suroor has a powerful grip on Thursday’s UAE 1,000 Guineas, and having won the race nine times he knows what it takes to win the US$250,000 (Dh918,000) contest.
Really Special, a horse he named, is the overwhelming favourite for the first Classic of the season.
The daughter of dual French Classic winner Shamardal faces 10 rivals, having put away seven of them when she won the Trial last month.
That race was over 1,400 metres, but the step up to 1,600m is almost certain to suit her.
Really Special won over the English 1,000 Guineas course and distance at Newmarket in October when powering to a Listed win under Thursday’s jockey Jim Crowley.
Although she does not move as if dirt is her favourite surface she should really be too good at Meydan.
“Really Special has won all three of her career starts and is a filly we really like,” Bin Suroor said.
“The extra 200m will suit her and we think she has a massive chance.”
Bin Suroor won the inaugural running of the 1,000 Guineas when Muwakleh scored by five-and-a-half lengths in 2001.
That filly went on to finish a noble second in the English equivalent at Newmarket two months later, a race already pencilled in for Really Special, should she prevail.
Really Special is joined by stable companion Voice Of Truth, and Godolphin’s challenge is completed by Charlie Appleby’s Calare, both of whom trailed in Really Special’s wake last time.
Doug Watson is rightly aggrieved that Complimenti is once again drawn wide in Gate 11, after the mount of Pat Dobbs finished just over three lengths adrift of Really Special last time from Gate 13 of 15.
“The draw is obviously not ideal,” Watson said.
“Hopefully Pat will be able to get in to a decent position early on.
“It is a good race but we are expecting a big run.”
Things to look out for at Meydan
■ AF Mathmoon
It has been a slow process to get the Dubai Kahayla Classic winner back in to top gear this season but Musabbeh Al Mheiri finally got the right tune out of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s six-year-old bay on the opening night of the Carnival. AF Mathmoon strode over eight lengths clear to announce the retainer between the Minister of Finance and British champion jockey Jim Crowley in some style. AF Mathmoon looks far too good for his rivals in the opening race tonight and should put in a sparkling performance ahead of his World Cup night defence.
■ Mizbah
Whatever Mizbah achieves tonight in the 2,000-metre handicap at 7.40pm he will do it by pinging out of the gates, pinning his ears back and motoring for as long as he can under Sam Hitchcott. Mizbah put up one of the performances of this year’s Dubai World Cup Carnival when he smashed a decent field by nearly eight lengths. The dirt was riding very fast on the Carnival’s opening night and that contributed to Mizbah lowering the track record – set by Godolphin’s Frosted last season. Judging by previous form it was a run too good to be true and it makes his performance tonight so intriguing.
■ Triple Nine
The South Koreans have been a welcome addition to the Dubai World Cup Carnival and Triple Nine is the best horse of the four that trainer Kim Young-kwank brought over for this campaign. Main Stay has already provided a historic victory for his country, but Triple Nine has a tide of optimism behind him that threatens to carry him all the way to the World Cup itself.
■ Nashmiah
Nicholas Bachalard has yet to have a winner at Meydan from three horses sent over from Saudi Arabia, but if there is one horse who can topple Saeed bin Suroor’s Really Special it might be Nashmiah. It is unlikely that Saudi Arabian form is stronger than anything else on offer in tonight’s UAE 1,000 Guineas, but the filly brings a whole new set of formlines to the table and finished second in a Saudi Arabian Group 1 last month and looks smart.
■ Brex Drago
Italian racing is in a parlous state, a fact underlined last week when three of their Group 1 races were downgraded to Group 2 level. Brex Drago used to be trained by Stephano Botti in Italy, but the five-year-old bay has had to be transferred to his son, Marco, in Newmarket due to lack of opportunities and delayed prize-money payments. Brex Drago won four Listed races in Italy over the past two seasons and will appreciate the drop back in distance from 2,000m to 1,800m from where he was third last month on his UAE debut. An Italian win would be something to write home about.
Geoffrey Riddle’s tips
■ 6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah Sponsored by Jaguar XE: Al Mathmoon
■ 7.05pm: Meydan Classic Trial Sponsored by Jaguar XF: Top Score
■ 7.40pm: Range Rover Sport: Triple Nine
■ 8.15pm: Jaguar F-PACE: Solar Flair
■ 8.50pm: UAE 1,000 Guineas Sponsored by Al Tayer Motors: Really Special
■ 9.25pm: Range Rover: Oh This Is Us
■ 10pm: Jaguar F-Type: Secret Brief
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