Cover image courtesy of Godolphin
It’s four for Godolphin
By Tom Frary, TDN Europe
Completing an unprecedented Classic quadruple on the first weekend in May, Desert Flower (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) left Team Godolphin in dreamland with her G1 1000 Guineas triumph on Sunday.
Keeping it simple on the even-money favourite, William Buick was always in control of the main group racing far side away from the three fillies sticking near the stands. It was from that trio that the unbeaten filly’s main threat emerged in Siyouni (Fr)'s Flight (GB), but Desert Flower was in no mood to spoil the transatlantic party for the Boys In Blue and held her by a length, with Flight's stablemate Simmering (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) the same margin away in third making it a second and third for Ollie Sangster.
“She's an amazing filly and this means the world, to be part of this,” Buick said after steering his first 1,000 Guineas winner and fulfilling the Churchill-Newmarket quadruple. “I can't put it into words–she's incredible. We thought we had to make our own running and she showed what a versatile and uncomplicated filly she is. She's all class.”
“I can't put it into words–she's (Desert Flower) incredible. We thought we had to make our own running and she showed what a versatile and uncomplicated filly she is. She's all class.” - William Buick
While the pace scenario was markedly different in both Guineas, the bare facts of the finish suggest that the fillies are still ahead of the colts as they were in 2024. The first five home on Sunday bettered Ruling Court (USA) (Justify {USA})'s winning time, with the rusty-looking sixth-placed Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) matching him at the death.
“We always like to use the dip as an excuse, but thankfully she has been through it in the Fillies' Mile and that's why William changed her run style,” trainer Charlie Appleby said. “This ground is the tightest she has run on, so we said, 'let's just go out there and let her get on with it rather than taking her back'.
“This ground is the tightest she (Desert Flower) has run on, so we said, 'let's just go out there and let her get on with it rather than taking her back'.” - Charlie Appleby
“We knew she would stay beyond this mile and I was confident that once she was upsides the leaders on the stands' side that it would be game over, as the one thing she would do is eat that hill,” he added, before turning his attention to the Oaks.
“I see no reason why she won't get further as she settles well–I know we have gone out and made it today and she was quite happy, but she can normally take a lead. I see no reason why not at the moment, but these are discussions we will have as a team. She is the best filly I've had by far and deserves the plaudits today.”
Charlie Appleby and William Buick | Image courtesy of TDN Europe
Desert Flower is the second of two live foals to date out of Hard Spun (USA)'s five-times Group-winning Promising Run (USA), whose first was Dubawi (Ire)'s G3 Solario Stakes winner Aablan (Ire). The second dam is the G1 Grande Premio Zelia Gonzaga Peixoto de Castro heroine Aviacion (Brz), whose other daughter of Dubawi is the G3 Lillie Langtry Stakes runner-up Arabian Comet (Ire). This the family of the leading sire Sir Gaylord (GB) and the incomparable Secretariat (USA).
The double-double
By Emma Berry, TDN Europe
“Awesome, awesome, awesome,” chanted William Buick after galloping off across Newmarket Heath with Desert Flower, beyond the winning post, into history. When Good Cheer (USA) (Medaglia D'O'ro {USA}) slipped through the slop at Churchill Downs on Friday evening, few could have predicted how many more cheers were to come for the global Godolphin team, in the Kentucky gloom and the chilly Suffolk sunshine.
A Classic double-double, the breadth of which has surely not been seen before, despite the extraordinary achievements of some of Godolphin's regular rivals among the vast owner-breeder operations. Two homebred winners of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby - won by Sovereignty (USA) (Into Mischief {USA}) -, and a homebred 2000 Guineas victrix to complete the quartet after Ruling Court, the most expensive breeze-up horse ever purchased in Europe at €2.3 million (AU$4 million), stamped himself as the next big stallion prospect for the Darley line-up in the 2,000 Guineas.
Ruling Court winning the G1 2000 Guineas | Image courtesy of Godolphin
Brad Cox and Bill Mott kept the American half of the bargain, and Charlie Appleby, who won his first 1,000 Guineas on Sunday after landing his third victory in the corresponding colts' Classic just 24 hours earlier, took both of his home Classics, as well as saddling last year's champion 2-year-old Shadow Of Light (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) to be third in the 2000 Guineas.
Joking with press pack, he said, “I rang the American team last night and said 'Thanks for putting the pressure on'.”
“I rang the American team last night and said 'Thanks for putting the pressure on'.” - Charlie Appleby
But Appleby never really does look pressured. With a sizeable Godolphin entourage around him, as well as his wife Aisling and children Erin, Emily, Edith and Sean, he has enough support to be able to throw one hell of a party when things go right and share the frustration when they do not. This weekend, everything went his and Buick's way, including a facile win in the only other group race on Newmarket's Sunday card with Cinderella's Dream (GB) (Shamardal {USA}) in the G2 Dahlia Stakes.
After the glory days of the 1990s, when Godolphin's more select team cherrypicked some of the biggest international prizes, came some years of frustration. Appleby was there for those years and will have felt the lows as he grafted his way into a position of influence. His success over the last decade has not changed him, and that could well be telling in the results that he is enjoying now. He's the team captain, but still very much part of that team.
These days, when Sheikh Mohammed is seen publicly in Britain, it is likely to be at the yearling sales, rather than at the racecourse, but he was not far from the thoughts of some of his most senior and trusted allies.
Sheikh Mohammed | Image courtesy of Godolphin
Diana Cooper, a longtime member of the Godolphin team through the ebb and flow of goods days and bad, was close to tears as she watched the presentation rostrum heaving with representatives of the operation.
“The thing is that everyone who works at Godolphin is doing this for Sheikh Mohammed,” she said.
Liam O'Rourke, director of studs, stallion and breeding at Darley's Dalham Hall Stud, could take pleasure in observing the filly in the winner's circle whose strapping physique promises so much more to come. Desert Flower is out of the homebred Promising Run (USA) (Hard Spun {USA}), whose best day came on the Rowley Mile when winning the G2 Rockfel Stakes, and who throws another line across the Atlantic as a daughter of Hard Spun (USA), who has spent his entire stud career on the Darley roster.
“It's a complete life-changer in terms of achievement,” O'Rourke said as he summed up the fab four. “Sheikh Mohammed has been so brilliant in supporting our business, but what he has achieved and helped us to achieve over the last 48 hours is quite extraordinary.
“Sheikh Mohammed has been so brilliant in supporting our business, but what he has achieved and helped us to achieve over the last 48 hours is quite extraordinary.” - Liam O'Rourke
“With two homebred Classic winners on consecutive days in the US, and then winning the Classic here yesterday and then a homebred Classic winner here now. I mean, it's what you dream about and then wake up and pinch yourself. But I think it's safe to say we'll never do that again.”
Just as importantly, 20 years after Dubawi (Ire) became the sole Classic winner for Dubai Millennium (GB), the baton is being passed as some of his stallion sons come to the fore. Desert Flower's sire Night Of Thunder (Ire) is in the vanguard at the moment, with Too Darn Hot (GB), sire of the third-placed Simmering (GB), laying down his own challenge across the hemispheres. Dubawi himself was responsible for the fourth-placed Elwateen (Ire), who ran a terrific race on only the second start of her life and ensured that Saaeed Bin Suroor took the fourth prize in both Guineas.
Night Of Thunder (Ire) | Standing at Darley
O'Rourke added of Night Of Thunder's first Classic success, “He's still a young stallion who was a Guineas winner here himself and we've got some fabulous young stock by him to get excited about for the future. It's very exciting at the moment and it's hugely satisfying, especially for all the stud staff who are the unsung heroes of the day.”
This weekend the Rowley Mile belonged to Appleby, Buick, and the team in the royal blue.
