Master Of The Seas flies home to nab Mawj and hand Charlie Appleby more Breeders' Cup success

It has not been a campaign to remember for Charlie Appleby, but the Breeders' Cup has been kind to him in recent years and was again on Saturday when Master Of The Seas won the Breeders' Cup Mile in thrilling style from fellow Godolphin raider Mawj.

The winner looked to have it all to do turning in from his position towards the rear, while the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Mawj was ridden handily by Oisin Murphy, who committed her to the lead in the straight. That looked like a race-winning move, but William Buick conjured a fine change of gear from Master Of The Seas to win narrowly. 

Casa Creed was third, but blue was the colour and Buick, champion jockey in Britain for the second time this year, was thrilled.

"I did what I had to do from my draw and the one thing he did was relax beautifully," the rider said. "I was conserving energy the whole way round, but I had so much faith in him.

"He had a lot of ground to make up and I had to circle the field, but the even pace helped. When we turned for home, I said, 'Do your thing', and he did.

"I was pretty sure we'd won, so I was a bit surprised it took so long to call, but credit to the horse, credit to Charlie and credit to the team. It was a great performance and it's great to come here and have a winner."

Second in the 2,000 Guineas in 2021, Master Of The Seas, a Godolphin homebred, was withdrawn from the Breeders' Cup Mile that year after rearing in the stalls but has since developed into a capable and dependable performer who was landing a second top-flight victory here following Canada's Woodbine Mile in September.

Master Of The Seas (William Buick) runs down Mawj in the Breeders' Cup MileCredit: Edward Whitaker

That continued a bright end to 2023 for Appleby, whose string did not fire through the summer as he endured a Group 1 blank from May's Lockinge (Modern Games) to the Futurity Trophy (Ancient Wisdom) last month. However, he had enjoyed six victories at the last two Breeders' Cups, including wins in the last two runnings of the Mile courtesy of Space Blues and Modern Games.

Appleby felt sympathy for Godolphin colleague Bin Suroor, who was back in the big time in the spring when Mawj won the 1,000 Guineas, a first top-level win since Thunder Snow in the 2019 Dubai World Cup, but looks like finishing 2023 with his lowest tally of winners in Britain since 2000.

Bin Suroor said: "She travelled lovely and got the perfect split, but she's just unlucky – someone has to finish second. Things happen quickly on this track and I wasn't sure what the outcome of the photo would be. It didn't go our way, but that's life. It was a good performance and she's a high-class filly."

Godolphin's chief operating officer Hugh Anderson could smile and said: "The last six weeks have been fabulous. It's a huge credit to Charlie and William, but commiserations to Saeed. 

"Seeing those two fight it out was amazing. They're both great horses and credit to the team and [Godolphin supremo] Sheikh Mohammed back in Dubai.

"Charlie had given me every reason to be pessimistic because of the draw, so I wasn't really paying attention to Master Of The Seas and I thought Mawj was going to do it. I'm delighted."

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