Ghaiyyath stamps class on Autumn Stakes

Ghaiyyath took the step up to G3 level in his stride with a convincing victory in the Masar Godolphin Autumn Stakes over a mile on day two of the Dubai Future Champions Festival at Newmarket, UK, on Saturday, October 14 

The two-year-old Dubawi colt, an easy winner of a maiden over the same course and distance on September 28, was slightly slow leaving the stalls and tracked the leaders in fourth of the eight runners under William Buick.

Ghaiyyath was relegated to a close sixth at the halfway stage but quickened smartly between horses passing the two-furlong marker to take second soon after. 

He reeled in Dream Today entering the final furlong and stayed on powerfully in the closing stages to win by a length and three-quarters in a quick time of 1m 35.92s on ground described as good, good to firm in places.

Trainer Charlie Appleby said: “We were confident that Ghaiyyath had come forward from his last run and I was delighted with his performance today. 

“We didn’t want to keep making the running and I was very pleased to see him take a lead, get into a nice rhythm and pick up when asked.

"Ghaiyyath is a horse that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed has a lot of faith in. He is in the Racing Post Trophy (G1, 1m, Doncaster, October 28) but potentially we might put him away for the year. We will discuss it on Monday.

“His forte is going to be stepping up in trip, hopefully to a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half, and we hope that he can go for a Derby trial in the spring. 

“Physically, he has always been a very imposing horse and a good-looking animal. He is a big horse with a nice-sized engine and has always been enthusiastic at home.”  

William Buick commented: “It was a nice performance from Ghaiyyath and he won well. He bunny hopped out of the stalls for a stride - I wanted to be closer to the lead than I was - but they went a nice gallop and he travelled sweetly throughout. 

“He had to be quite courageous for a stride because we had to squeeze through horses just before the dip. When the ground levelled out, he picked up well and won like a nice horse.”