Godolphin missed out on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for the second successive year but the Dubai racing operation bagged two Group 1 prizes from the six that were up for grabs at Longchamp on Sunday.
Cloth Of Stars, the runner up in the Arc last year, was beaten to third place by Enable and Sea Of Class. However, Royal Marine and Wild Illusion won for a Godolphin double. Royal Marine swept away his rivals in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and Wild Illusion won the Prix de l’Opera Longines.
“He’s a big, strong horse who works well at home,” trainer Saeed bin Suroor said of Royal Marine. “He showed some class there and travelled well the whole way.
"We’ll take him to Dubai now and he could start off there next season. He could be anything.”
Appleby added of Wild Illusion: “All credit to the filly, as you’ve seen there she’s tough. She’s danced every dance, she was fourth in Guineas, second in the Oaks and Ribblesdale. She came out and won the Nassau and she’s backed it up today. We were confident we had the best filly in the race.”
“She looked fantastic and it was a deserved win. This was always our target after the Nassau and hopefully going on to the future, it’ll be the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.”