Newmarket // For the second day in a row, Godolphin were bested by Coolmore in an English Guineas when Ryan Moore guided Legatissimo up the rail to sneak ahead of Lucida in the fillies’ Classic on Sunday.
On Saturday, Moore had partnered Gleneagles to beat Godolphin France’s Territories in the 2,000 Guineas, but whereas in the colts’s equivalent Godolphin barely looked on terms, Lucida had shrugged off all challengers with 200 metres to go.
Jockey Kevin Manning had his mount motoring for home, but Legatissimo’s extra stamina reserves started to come into play up the Rowley Mile incline and there was three-quarters of a length between them at the line.
Lucida’s trainer Jim Bolger held an extensive debrief with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, afterwards.
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“In nine out of 10 years, that performance would have been good enough,” Bolger said.
“She ran her heart out. Kevin thought she had put the race to bed, but the other one just snuck up the inside. We just got outstayed.”
Over in France, the incomparable Cirrus Des Aigles registered a remarkable third victory in the Group 1 Prix Ganay at Longchamp at the expense of Al Kazeem.
At the age of nine most top-flight racehorses have retired, but the 2012 Dubai Sheema Classic winner seems to be holding his form, and under a cool ride from Christophe Soumillon he secured his seventh victory at the highest grade.
Soumillon had flown in from Churchill Downs, where on Saturday night he had partnered Mubtaahij to eighth place in the Kentucky Derby.
Mubtaahij will now return to England and will shift focus toward running at the 2016 Dubai World Cup.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa’s UAE Derby winner became the 11th horse to run in the UAE equivalent before trying to win in Louisville.
In a race that resulted in winner American Pharoah, runner-up Firing Line and Dortmund securing prominent positions early on, Mubtaahij did well on the inside rail in a race that was not run to suit. He was just less than 10 lengths adrift at the wire.
The fifth place secured by UAE Derby runner-up Master Of Hounds in 2009 remains the best position achieved by a horse from Dubai.
Trainer Bob Baffert confirmed in the post-race news conference that American Pharoah would embark on the Triple Crown trail, which recommences in a fortnight with the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.
The Belmont Stakes, the final leg, is staged at Belmont Park on June 6.
“If all goes well, I don’t see any reason not to go,” Baffert said. “We’re looking forward to it. The next one, we call in the ‘fun one’. You know we’re coming off a Derby high, going in there to Baltimore, and the Preakness is one of my favourite races.’’
Three times the Triple Crown has slipped through Bob Baffert’s fingers.
In 1997, Silver Charm, the subsequent Dubai World Cup winner, secured the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, while the following year Real Quiet went down by a nose to Victory Gallop at Belmont. War Emblem finished eighth in the Belmont in 2002.
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