Cylinder excels to emulate sire in Newmarket Handicap

Cylinder proved a fitting winner of the G1 Newmarket Handicap at Flemington on Saturday when he lowered the colours of prolific mare Imperatriz just days after his sire Exceed And Excel retired from covering duties.

Runner-up in last season’s Golden Slipper, Cylinder secured a breakthrough top-level success when scoring by a cosy length and a quarter over the nine-time G1 winner.

Cylinder becomes the third Godolphin horse to win the prestigious sprint in the space of five years and looks set to follow 2020 victor Bivouac, another son of Exceed And Excel, onto the Darley stallion roster following his racing career.

Champion sire Exceed And Excel won the Newmarket Handicap himself in 2004 before going on to establish himself as a hugely influential stallion in both southern and northern hemispheres. Cylinder becomes his 19th G1 winner, a list that also features Godolphin luminaries Microphone, Outstrip, Mischief Magic and Mawj.

Jamie Kah rode Cylinder to victory, having missed out on the winning ride on In Secret 12 months earlier following a career-threatening fall earlier on the card. Dean Holland partnered In Secret to victory instead, just weeks before he tragically lost his life at Donald racecourse. Holland’s family were present on Saturday to present Kah with the Dean Holland Trophy, awarded to the winning jockey of the Newmarket Handicap.

Kah also scored on Traffic Warden, who made all to take the G2 Produce Stakes. The Street Boss colt had previously finished a close eighth in the Blue Diamond Stakes and looks booked for a return to G1 level, with the Golden Slipper and ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes both options.

Catfight secured her place in April’s G1 Oka Sho following a neck victory in the Listed Anemone Stakes in Japan on Sunday. The Discreet Cat filly is due to be joined in the Japanese 1,000 Guineas by the Godolphin-bred Etes Vous Prets, who captured the same day’s G2 Fillies' Revue in the Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum silks.

In Bahrain, Real World bounced back to form with an impressive display in the Listed Al Methaq Mile on Friday. It was a first victory in two years for the seven-year-old, who has posted G2 wins in Europe and Dubai in addition to twice finishing second in G1 company.