From Sydney to Donny via Meydan: Godolphin's day of global dominance

Godolphin laid down a marker to their rivals across three continents on Saturday with Sheikh Mohammed’s resurgent behemoth dominating worldwide, led by Thunder Snow’s historic second success in the $12 million Dubai World Cup.

Horses carrying the famous all-blue silks captured four Group 1s in Australia and Dubai as well as plundering the first major prize of the British Flat turf season at Doncaster.

Thunder Snow, trained by Saeed Bin Suroor, became the first horse to win the Dubai World Cup twice when getting the better of Gronkowski in a desperate finish at Meydan, but it was trainer Charlie Appleby who led the way numerically as he continued his relentless assault on major global prizes.

Godolphin's big day

5.30am Rosehill Avilius Tancred Stakes (Group 1)
12.50pm Meydan Cross Counter Dubai Gold Cup (Group 2)
1.30pm Meydan Blue Point Al Quoz Sprint (Group 1)
3.35pm Doncaster Auxerre Lincoln Handicap
4.00pm Meydan Old Persian Sheema Classic (Group 1)
4.40pm Meydan Thunder Snow Dubai World Cup (Group 1)

Appleby saddled Blue Point and Old Persian to emphatic wins in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint and Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic, while also sending out last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter to capture the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup and the red-hot favourite Auxerre to win the Lincoln at Doncaster in style.

Speaking from Meydan, Appleby said: “We're in a very special place at the moment. I have a huge team behind me that are fantastic and I have the support of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed.

“The Lincoln can be a hard race to win but we thought we had the right horse going into it. I watched it on my phone and it looked like he won quite well. I'm delighted for James [Doyle] who was a bit disappointed he couldn't ride Ispolini [second in the Dubai Gold Cup], but I said, 'Don't worry about that go and ride the Lincoln winner'.”

He added: “It's important to have winners on the big stage. That's what Godolphin are about and that's what I try to achieve. It's a tough task to stay at the level we were last year, but we've put ourselves in a good position to have a good go.”

Those wins in Dubai and Britain came on the back of Avilius, who was cut to 20-1 (from 40) for the Melbourne Cup, slamming his opposition in the Group 1 Tancred Stakes at Rosehill, Sydney, and a week after Kiamichi led home a 1-2-3 for Godolphin in the Group 1 Golden Slipper, Australia’s richest race for two-year-olds.

Trainer James Cummings said: "His effort today was imperious and he's a serious horse. He's had a A$1.5 million canter round.

"I looked at the horse this morning and felt he was stronger and better than last week and it was going to take a horrible bias or some sort of tragedy to pull him up. He swept to the lead beautifully like a proper horse."

Godolphin's Group 1 winners in 2019

Godolphin have enjoyed a bountiful 12 months around the world headlined by the victories of Masar in the Investec Derby at Epsom and Cross Counter in the Melbourne Cup.

Illustrating the strength in depth now possessed by Godolphin, those victories have been supplemented with the likes of Benbatl, Quorto, Best Solution, Wild Illusion, Jungle Cat, La Pelosa, Line Of Duty, Royal Marine, Dream Castle and Royal Meeting scoring at the top level.

Such sustained success has enabled Godolphin to shine after years spent in the shadow of fellow superpower Coolmore, as has the emergence of Dubawi as a legitimate rival to star stallion Galileo.

Old Persian becomes Dubawi's 39th Group/Grade 1 winner in the Dubai Sheema ClassicCredit: Edward Whitaker

Success on the track will also have come as a welcome fillip for Sheikh Mohammed, with Godolphin in the midst of a major worldwide spending review which has resulted in the axing of a number of high-profile race sponsorships, such as the Irish and Yorkshire Oaks, and staff redundancies.

Godolphin also came in for criticism earlier this year for imposing strict weight limits on their work riders, a move they subsequently ended.

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