May 5 (UPI) — There are good days. There are great days. And then there are — once in a great while — days like Godolphin had Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Churchill Downs in Kentucky and Newmarket in England.
Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and an accomplished horseman, might have dreamed of something like this weekend when he created Godolphin in the early 1990s. But he never could actually have expected it.
On Friday at Churchill Downs, Good Cheer extended her unbeaten record to seven straight with yet another dominating victory in the Grade I Kentucky Oaks. Godolphin’s Michael Banahan beamed as he hoisted the trophy. He said, paraphrasing his charming Irish brogue, “See ya at the Breeders’ Cup.”
On Saturday, Ruling Court edged clear in the final yards to win the Group 1 2,000 Guineas — the first European Classic of the year and England’s premier mile race for 3-year-olds, a stallion-making race won by an honor roll of champions including, lately, Frankel.
Godolphin also finished third and fourth with Shadow of Light and Tornado Alert. And note that Ruling Court was sired by Justify, the 2018 U.S. Triple Crown champion.
Later that same day, Godolphin took the first step toward a potential Triple Crown bid of its own as Sovereignty splashed through the sloppy Churchill Downs track to give Sheik Mohammed his long-sought after first victory in the Kentucky Derby.
Banahan beamed ever so broadly and said, “It’s a race we always wanted to win. … We’re so grateful to be standing here. … It’s a great feeling.”
No, wait. There’s more.
Sunday found Desert Flower battling gamely through the final furlong to land the Group 1 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket, another coup for the Godolphin racing operation and another quality filly eventually destined for the broodmare band — somewhere.
Trainer Charlie Appleby said the homebred Night of Thunder filly, who remains undefeated, is the best Godolphin has ever produced.
And two races before that, Beautiful Love romped home first by 4 1/2 lengths in the Group 2 Dahlia Stakes with Godolphin stablemate Beautiful Love third. Both 4-year-old fillies were part of Godolphin’s international traveling team last year and doubtless are headed back to America this summer.
Godolphin, Appleby and jockey William Buick also finished first and second in a pair of 2-year-old races on the Newmarket program, showing more firepower is in the pipeline.
“It’s been an amazing weekend for Godolphin,” Appleby said, per Racing Post. “I’m in an incredibly lucky position. Outside the team there’s a huge amount of pressure, but for me it’s enjoyable and to be able to speak to His Highness [Sheikh Mohammed] every day is incredible.
“It’s not just what we’ve achieved here, but what we’ve achieved over in America. I said thanks to the team in the U.S. this morning as they’d tightened the screws a bit as I’m usually laid-back.”
Japan
Redentor, with visiting rider Damian Lane riding, led a youth movement in Sunday’s Grade 1 Tenno Sho (Spring) at Kyoto Racecourse, the longest race on the Japan Racing Association schedule.
Redentor got to the front outside rivals in the stretch run of the 3,200 meters or about 2 miles and held off Byzantine Dream to win by a head. Shonan la Punta and Sunrise Earth were third and fourth. All are 4 years old.
The relative youngsters got their chance as last year’s winner, T O Royal, is sidelined with a leg issue. The 2023 winner Justin Palace, and last year’s runner-up, Blow the Horn, tried to pick up
Although the Tenno Sho (Spring) is the ultimate stayers’ test in Japan, Redentor’s stamina marks him as a rising star even at slightly shorter distances and a potential candidate to chase some of Japan’s unrealized dreams overseas.
“I think he’s still relatively young in the mind and immature and so he’s learning all the time, which means that he can continue to race at the top level over the next couple of years,” Lane said of Redentor, who races in the green and white stripes of Carrot Farm.
In Japan, that means the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October in Paris — a race Japanese connections have contested with frustrating results for decades.
Redentor’s trainer, Tetsuya Kimura, is no stranger to overseas competition as he handled superstar Equinox, winner of six straight Grade 1 and Group 1 races, including the Japan Cup and the Dubai Sheema Classic.
Carrot Farm had another impressive winner Saturday on the Kyoto dirt track as Canal Beagle tracked the pace in the Grade 3 Unicorn Stakes, shot through between rivals in the stretch run and was up for a 3/4-length score over the favorite, Clay King.
Canal Beagle was making his fifth start, and first in a graded event, after scoring two wins from his first four starts. He’s a son of Real Steel, who also sired Forever Young, third in both the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2024.
