Ghaiyyath honoured as Cartier Horse of the Year

Ghaiyyath has been crowned Horse of the Year and top Older Horse at the Cartier Racing Awards after the winners of the prestigious accolades were announced on the evening of Friday, 20 November.

During an outstanding campaign for Charlie Appleby, the Dubawi entire completed a hat-trick of breathtaking G1 victories under William Buick in the Coronation Cup, Eclipse Stakes and Juddmonte International.

Ghaiyyath made an exciting start to the year when easily taking the G3 Dubai Millennium Stakes and Meydan, UAE, before breaking Newmarket’s course record for a mile and a half with a relentless all-the-way victory in the Coronation Cup.

The five-year-old once again made all of the running to comfortably beat dual Cartier Horse of the Year Enable in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park.

His victory in the Juddmonte International at York was another brilliant display of dominating from the front as he came home three lengths clear of multiple G1 scorer Magical.

Ghaiyyath recently retired to stand as a Darley stallion at Kildangan Stud, Ireland, in 2021 and heads into his new career as the highest-rated horse in the world this year.

Hugh Anderson, Godolphin Managing Director, UK and Dubai, said: “On behalf of Godolphin and Sheikh Mohammed, thank you very much for this award, it means a huge amount. Ghaiyyath is one of the all-time greats for Godolphin. He has really made 2020 a fantastic year for us.

“I want to personally thank Charlie Appleby and William Buick for their fantastic teamwork in delivering these outstanding G1 wins. I want to thank His Highness Sheikh Mohammed for his support this year and into next year too. It has been a wonderful finish to this year.”

Charlie Appleby said: “I would like to thank everybody involved in the Cartier Awards. To win Horse of the Year and Older Horse with Ghaiyyath has been a fantastic achievement by everyone involved with Godolphin.

“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed has followed this horse very closely from being a yearling through his two-year-old career and thankfully it has culminated in what he has achieved this year. It has been a great feeling for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, all of his family and everyone involved with Godolphin.

“Thankfully, I now pass the baton over to the breeding operation and I am sure they will have a lot of fun and success with him in his career.”

William Buick said: “It is amazing for Ghaiyyath to win the Cartier Horse of the Year. Thank you to everybody involved, especially the horse. He really deserves it and is an amazing horse to ride. I feel very privileged to have ridden a horse of his calibre.

“As a racehorse, he really did have everything. I have never ridden a horse with so much pace that can sustain it over the trips he ran over. He wore his heart on his sleeve and, as exciting as he looked, he was just as exciting to ride. He was an amazing horse and I will miss riding him.”