A week of wonder for Team Godolphin topped by double G1 triumph
As the curtain fell on Royal Ascot 2017 last Saturday, horseracing fans across the world must have agreed that this year they had witnessed something special, even by the typical high standards of this prestigious meeting. Thrilling finishes, with horses of the highest class battling it out to reach the winning post in front, and for Team Godolphin, a particularly exciting week as they celebrated not only their 50th Royal Ascot winner, but also their 250th G1 winner.
The week could not have got off to a more exciting start as Ribchester, the best horse in Europe this year, took almost half a second off the track record when storming to victory in the opening race, the G1 Queen Anne Stakes.
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The son of Darley stallion Iffraaj was recording his third win at the highest level and is now likely to head to Glorious Goodwood for a tilt at the G1 Sussex Stakes or to France for the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois.
Royal Ascot Tuesday boasts three G1 contests, more than any other day of the week and the second, the King’s Stand Stakes, saw the crack sprinters take each other on over a blistering five furlongs. Profitable lined up for Team Godolphin and having had a slightly interrupted preparation, ran with huge credit to finish second.
The star of that show, however, was last year’s Queen Mary heroine Lady Aurelia. Her record is now five wins from six starts and she was one of two winners for trainer Wesley Ward, who also saddled Con Te Partiro to win the Listed Sandringham Handicap. Ward has notched in an impressive nine winners since 2009.
The clash of the three-year-old colts came next in the G1 St James’s Palace Stakes and Barney Roy, so close in the 2,000 Guineas, gained a well-deserved first win at this level, swooping home late to take the one-mile contest by a length.
In doing so, he became the 250th worldwide G1 winner for Team Godolphin since Sheikh Mohammed founded the stable in 1992. Previous G1 winner Thunder Snow (by Darley stallion Helmet and like Barney Roy, a grandson of fellow Darley sire Exceed And Excel) put up another admirable performance to take third.
Two Royal Ascot winners, let alone both G1 winners, in one day is a joyous occasion for any owner but the day was not yet finished as Charlie Appleby’s smart two-year-old Sound And Silence (Exceed And Excel) led home stablemate Roussel to take the Windsor Castle Stakes.
This remarkable treble came exactly 40 years after Sheikh Mohammed celebrated his first ever winner, when Hatta was victorious at Brighton.
While Team Godolphin did not record a winner on the Wednesday, four-year-old Shamardal filly Usherette came agonisingly close when third in the G2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes having enjoyed no luck in running at all. On the same day, Blair House was beaten just half a length in the Royal Hunt Cup, one of the most competitive handicaps of the entire racing season.
Thursday provided Team Godolphin with two trips to the winner’s enclosure, first courtesy of three-year-old colt Benbatl in the G3 Hampton Court Stakes.
The son of leading sire Dubawi has been an exciting prospect since winning by seven lengths on his racecourse debut back in April and came into the race off the back of a fast-finishing fifth in the Derby at Epsom. Saeed bin Suroor’s charge was always travelling well and ran on strongly to win by half a length His long-term target is now the G1 Champion Stakes later in the autumn.
Atty Persse, named after the famous trainer, took the final race of the day (the King George V Stakes) to become Frankel’s first ever Royal Ascot winner. He led home another Team Godolphin runner in First Nation (Dubawi).
The feature race of the day and for many, of the whole week, was the Gold Cup and the two-and-a-half-mile test of stamina provided one of the finishes of the week as Michael Bell’s hugely popular Big Orange (under James Doyle) denied last year’s winner Order Of St George by just a short head to win over the hearts of almost the entire grandstand.
The G1 Commonwealth Cup, a relative newcomer to the Royal Ascot schedule and a welcome addition to the calendar for three-year-old sprinters, promised a mouth-watering clash between Harry’s Angel and Blue Point (Shamardal) and the unbeaten Caravaggio. In the end, it was the latter who prevailed by three quarters of a length but with the trio a full three lengths clear of the fourth, the Team Godolphin pair lost little in defeat.
The last race on Friday was the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes and Rare Rhythm provided Dubawi with his third winner of the week as he quickened superbly in the home straight under William Buick. His groom, Wayne Hogg, also provided one of the celebrations of the week when cheering his charge home.
Saturday saw two more places for Team Godolphin, firstly with New Approach two-year-old Masar, who finished third in the Listed Chesham Stakes. Since the race, he has been allotted a Timeform rating of 110p – not only indicating that there is likely more to come from him, but also a mark not beaten by any other juvenile colt that week.
Later in the afternoon, Steady Pace (under Josephine Gordon) found only Exceed And Excel’s son Out Do too good in the Wokingham.
Team Godolphin finished the week with six individual winners, matching their previous record and making them joint leading owners by number of winners.
Sheikh Mohammed’s thoroughbred stallion operation also bred three winners in Permian, Benbatl and Sound And Silence, with the latter becoming the first Stakes winner to be registered as Godolphin bred.
