Native Trail strikes for Godolphin in Group 1 National Stakes at Curragh

Oasis Dream colt is now leading candidate for next year’s 2000 Guineas

William Buick, riding Native Trail, en route to winning the National Stakes at Curragh racecourse.PA

Godolphin’s Native Trail stretched his perfect record to three with a career best Group 1 National Stakes at the Curragh in Ireland on Sunday.

The Charlie Appleby-trained two year old Oasis Dream colt came home three and-a-half lengths clear of Aidan O’Brien’s Point Lonsdale over the seven-furlong trip to become a leading candidate for next year’s 2000 Guineas.

It was a third success in the race in four years for Charlie Appleby and William Buick following Quorto and Pinatubo, and fifth in total for Godolphin, who had previously been successful with Dubawi and Dawn Approach.

“It’s very satisfying to have another winner of the National Stakes - I think this is a great race and an indicator to the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes,” Appleby told godolphin.com.

“This is a route we have taken with Pinatubo and Quorto before, and it was always our plan immediately after the Superlative Stakes to come here with this horse.

“We took Native Trail for a racecourse gallop a couple of weeks ago and if you’d asked me then if we would be winning a National Stakes, I might have sat on the fence slightly.”

Native Trail’s victory took Godolphin’s Group 1 tally to 14 and 428 winner-mark for the year.

“Full credit to the team at home,” Appleby added. “We definitely felt the horse had come forward for that gallop and we put a cross noseband on him to help him concentrate.

“William said Native Trail is still very green and it felt like he was going down to the start on a maiden. He gave the horse a shove early doors to get the revs up, but I knew with two furlongs to go the one thing Native Trail was going to do was gallop out strongly.”