Charlie Appleby | Horse Racing Free Tips

Godolphin Not Playing Around in Just a Game

A grey pair of Godolphin-owned, Charlie Appleby-trained fillies off at 7-1 and last seen competing in Meydan's G2 Balanchine S. in February dominated Saturday's GI Longines Just a Game S., with Althiqa (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) running down fleet-footed stablemate and 'TDN Rising Star' Summer Romance (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) late. Longshot and fellow 'Rising Star' Daddy is a Legend (Scat Daddy) rounded out the trifecta. Trainer Chad Brown, who had three chances for his fifth-straight Just a Game title, could do no better than fourth with Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom).

Balanchine winner Summer Romance zipped out to the front as anticipated and cleared off comfortably as Althiqa was guided to the hedge in third last by Mike Smith. The leader still seemed to be in complete control after a half in :46.90 and six panels in 1:10.46, but Althiqa was loaded as she looked for running room at the top of the stretch. Smith tried briefly to tip wide, but then opted to go for an inside run and that proved the winning move–Althiqa squeezed inside of Summer Romance in the final sixteenth to prevail by 3/4 of a length.

“She's got a big heart and she's very, very honest, so she's going to run good,” said Smith. “You're just going to have to make a trip when it's time to move on. I was actually going to tip out, but she kind of leaned in like she wanted to drop to the fence, so I just let her. It was a small hole but [Appleby] told me she had a big heart, and she got on through there. She might suit American racing really well. We might want to keep her here.”

A stakes winner in France and group-placed both there and in Great Britain last year at three, Althiqa kicked off her campaign with a decisive tally in Meydan's G2 Cape Verdi S. going this distance Jan. 28 before running on for third in the Balanchine.

“We're obviously delighted with it and we knew we had two competitive fillies,” said Appleby, whose last Stateside victory came with Godolphin's Line of Duty (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. “It's one of those days when we prepped well, I was confident they would run a big race and they justified it. They are two fillies who ran well over the winter in Dubai in Group 2s–one won the Balanchine and the other won the Cape Verdi–and they came out there to America and put it to the sword again. It's a great effort by the team there and we might think about leaving them there for [July 17 GI Diana S. at] Saratoga. Althiqa hit the line strong enough and she wasn't stopping. It was an opportunity to get a [Grade I], and luckily we did.”

Appleby and Godolphin were also represented Saturday by smashing G1 Cazoo Derby winner Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}).

As for the decision to enlist Smith, Appleby said, “Mike gave us our first Grade I in the [2013 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf] with Outstrip (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), so it's great to team up again. With Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}0 [having developed an infection and dropping out of consideration for the GI Belmont S. presented by NYRA Bets] earlier this week and this, it's just the ups and downs of it all. We've seen it here in the UK and you just have to roll with the punches.”

Saturday, Belmont
LONGINES JUST A GAME S.-GI, $500,000, Belmont, 6-5, 4yo/up, f/m, 1mT, 1:33.90, gd.
1–ALTHIQA (GB), 118, f, 4, by Dark Angel (Ire)
1st Dam: Mistrusting (Ire) (SW-Eng, $120,206), by Shamardal
                2nd Dam: Misheer (GB), by Oasis Dream (GB)
                3rd Dam: All For Laura (GB), by Cadeaux Genereux (GB)
1ST GRADE I WIN. O/B-Godolphin (GB); T-Charles Appleby;
J-Mike E. Smith. $275,000. Lifetime Record: 10-5-2-3, $466,213.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
   Rating: A++.
2–Summer Romance (Ire), 120, f, 4, by Kingman (GB)
1st Dam: Serena's Storm (Ire), by Statue of Liberty
2nd Dam: Princess Serena, by Unbridled's Song
3rd Dam: Serena's Sister, by Rahy
(300,000gns Ylg '18 TATOCT; €800,000 2yo '19 ARQMA).
O-Godolphin, LLC; B-Round Hill Stud (IRE); T-Charles Appleby.
$100,000.
3–Daddy Is a Legend, 118, m, 6, by Scat Daddy
1st Dam: Randie's Legend, by Benchmark
2nd Dam: Eternal Legend, by Gold Legend
3rd Dam: Eternal Search, by Northern Answer
($140,000 Wlg '15 KEENOV; $160,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Hill,
Jim and Susan; B-HnR Nothhaft Horseracing LLC (PA); T-George
Weaver. $60,000.
Margins: 3/4, 1 3/4, 1. Odds: 7.40, 7.20, 12.30.
Also Ran: Regal Glory, Pocket Square (GB), Zofelle (Ire), Always Shopping, Abscond, Tamahere (Fr), New York Girl (Ire). Scratched: Blowout (GB), Sweet Bye and Bye. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

Althiqa is the eighth highest-level winner and one of 37 group/graded winners for Dark Angel (Ire), who is also the sire of this April's impressive GI Maker's Mark Mile hero Raging Bull (Fr), and 2018's GI Shoemaker Mile S. upsetter Hunt (Ire). The late Shamardal has sired the dams of 30 graded/group winners, including six now at the top level.

Dam Mistrusting is herself a daughter of Group 2 winner and G1SP Misheer. Her 3-year-old son Magical Land (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) has been second or third in all five outings for these connections, while Althiqa's 2-year-old full-sister Before Dawn (Ire) was second at Newmarket May 15 and a close fourth in the Kempton all-weather on Wednesday. Mistrusting produced a Dark Angel colt last term and a Kodiac (GB) filly this March.

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A Horseman’s Derby

EPSOM, UK—”I'm not really a person to get over-excited about things,” said Adam Kirby as he stooped over the podium after winning his first Classic, the most important one of them all.

For the tall, gaunt jockey, so admired by his peers but with nothing like the rock star profile of Frankie Dettori, even riding at nine stone is a struggle. Slow to face the press for the post-race conference, he admitted he'd taken his time in the weighing-room so he could have a bottle of juice while gathering his thoughts.

He added, “I'm not very good at interviews, am I?” That's not a statement you'd ever hear from Dettori either, but it is Kirby all over. Just 15 minutes earlier, however, as he'd been led in to that hallowed circle at Epsom aboard Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in the Godolphin third colours with the red cap, there was no mistaking his elation in the crowning moment of his career.

Dettori hadn't needed the sun to shine for him at Epsom on Friday as he steered Snowfall (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) to her 16-length Oaks romp; his own theatrics were enough to lift the mood following a relentlessly wet day. Being back at the same track on Saturday was like being in a different country. The sun beat down, the Red Devils parachuted onto the track before racing as usual, and the National Anthem rung out. Only The Queen, the double-decker buses and about 50,000 racegoers were missing.

As Kirby agreed, he doesn't exactly have a mega-watt personality but he is a horseman with sublime skills, and that was what shone out across the Downs on Saturday. At the beginning of the week, he was expecting to be aboard John Leeper (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in the Cazoo Derby. As Aidan O'Brien declared only Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) on Thursday and Dettori was no longer required for a Ballydoyle runner, the Italian jockey who had been original first choice for John Leeper was confirmed for the ride. Kirby was stood down.

“You wouldn't have wanted to be around me for the first hour that night, but then I got over it,” he admitted. But before long Charlie Appleby had called on Kirby to book him for Adayar. His gain was in turn Oisin Murphy's loss.

“Mad, crazy, what goes around, comes around,” said Kirby. A mantra all jockeys must live by.

Though not one of the outfit's retained riders, he has enjoyed plenty of success for Godolphin. And with his partner Megan Evans at their Vicarage Farm just outside Newmarket Kirby now plays an arguably even more crucial role for the royal blue team as breaker and pre-trainer of many of their young horses. Appleby stated that Kirby had broken in the horse who would become his Derby winner. Kirby couldn't remember, though he won't be forgetting Adayar now, or anytime soon.

“I broke in One Ruler,” he said with certainty of the Derby sixth-place finisher. “I do a lot of horses for Charlie. I love every minute of that as well. Charlie is a great supporter of us at Vicarage Farm.”

Through his winning Derby ride it's easy to see why he would be such a good pair of hands to have aboard a young colt as he surrenders to the early training process. His was a performance that was as simple as it was skilful: break well, get a good position, get your horse to switch off just behind the leaders and then strike when a gap opens up on the rail. Easy.

Except it rarely is that easy at Epsom, with its notoriously tricky camber. The modest Kirby might argue that everything simply went right for him and Adayar, but it was a ride that showed exactly why Appleby was happy to put his faith in Kirby, ahead of the reigning champion jockey, as soon as he heard he had been left without a Derby ride.

“Adam is a natural horseman. He can settle horses, he can send horses,” said Appleby, and that is exactly what he did to win the Derby, making up Adayar's mind for him, sending him on in only the fifth race of his life, as the early leader Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) weakened and rolled off the rail.

Frankel is yet to sire a Guineas winner but he had already had the Oaks winner Anapurna (GB) and St Leger winner Logician (GB) before Adayar became his first Derby winner in a field which featured two other colts by him, and another son Mohaafeth (Ire) as a late withdrawal. As brilliant as Frankel was it always rankled that he never tackled the Derby himself. There are two sides to every pedigree, of course, but Frankel's increasingly impressive record with middle-distance runners only increases that regret.

Similarly, it had been a shame to see Adayar's dam, the obviously talented Anna Salai (Dubawi {Ire}) move from Andre Fabre to Mahmood Al Zarooni and never really build on her early promise. A descendant of Anna Paola (Ger), from the same family as the 1000 Guineas winner of 2018, Billesdon Brook (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), the Irish 1000 Guineas runner-up Anna Salai now claws back some deserved recognition with a Classic winner of her own in Godolphin's second homebred Derby winner in three years.

It was Appleby's retained jockey William Buick aboard Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) back in 2018, and this time around Buick looked equally thrilled as he returned to the third-place spot aboard supposed first string Hurricane Lane (Ire), another son of Frankel. He's a team player, and first and third in the Derby is some result for the team. But Buick would have been all too aware of what the result would mean to his winning colleague.

With the build more akin to a National Hunt jockey, Kirby makes daily sacrifices to keep his weight in check, and his list of achievements, which now runs to nine Group 1 wins, is all the greater given the number of rides for which his size makes him ineligible. During the covid pandemic he has at least benefited from the rise in the weights.

“It's been an absolute privilege to have the extra couple of pounds for the allowance due to there being no sauna,” he said. “It has made my life a lot easier and a lot less stressful.”

While thanking Appleby for his “unbelievable loyalty”, Kirby also remembered his former boss, the late Walter Swinburn, who wrote his name in the Derby history books on three occasions, most memorably with Shergar (Ire) 40 years ago.

“He was a top man and a very sad loss,” Kirby said. “He was great to ride for and he taught me always to be very cool and calm and relaxed about things, but I wouldn't say that's come out in me today.”

Those who watched the race may beg to differ. Similarly, those who have followed Kirby's career, from grafting away on the all-weather in midwinter to dazzling on racing's biggest day, will draw satisfaction from the fact that sometimes it's enough for innate horsemanship to do the talking.

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Adayar Surprises In The Epsom Derby

Frankel finally has his classic winner in Adayar. Three years after Godolphin's first win with Masar, Adayar and Adam Kirby stormed home to a surprise five-length victory in the mile-and-a-half Derby at Epsom. Longshot Mojo Star (50-1) and Hurricane Lane (6-1) rounded out the top three with Mac Swiney in fourth.

After losing the mount on John Leeper earlier this week, Kirby was able to secure a Derby ride on Adayar, trained by Charlie Appleby. Considered Goldolphin's third-string horse, Adayar's limited experience and disadvantageous post had this son of Frankel go off at 16-1. A patient ride by Kirby, who kept his horse just off the pace for the first mile, enabled Adayar to take off in the stretch, passing Gear Up and Youth Spirit and sprinting off to a clear lead as they approached the wire.

Adayar becomes the legendary Frankel's first English classic winner. He is a Godolphin homebred out of the Dubawi mare Anna Salai. The Derby is the fifth start of his career and his second win.

“All I could think of was my mother, she would be watching me, she'd be happy,” jockey Adam Kirby told ITV after the race.

Adayar's Derby win is the first Classic victory for Kirby and the second for trainer Charlie Appleby and owner Godolphin Racing.

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Adayar Gives Frankel His First Derby

He was the third-string of Godolphin, the outsider of all the colts by Frankel (GB), was drawn in the hoodoo one stall and ridden by the jockey who was banished from one of the more-fancied horses, but in the final reckoning on Saturday Godolphin's Adayar (Ire) was utterly dominant in Epsom's G1 Cazoo Derby. Highly encouraging when runner-up in the Apr. 23 G3 Sandown Classic Trial, the powerful bay was less so when in the same spot in the May 8 Lingfield Derby Trial and had subsequently gone into the background behind Charlie Appleby's other duo. Tellingly, late money was to come for him and he started at only 16-1 having been much bigger this week when trading as a rank outsider. Sent up to race in fourth against the rail early, he travelled strongly for Adam Kirby who just days before had been on John Leeper (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and whose availability meant that champion jockey Oisin Murphy was missing out on what would have been his own Derby breakthrough. Making his move up a slim gap on the inner to grab the lead with over two furlongs remaining, the homebred who sported the red cap was soon gone beyond recall and issued a 4 1/2-length beating to the Richard Hannon-trained maiden and 50-1 outsider Mojo Star (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}). The winner's stablemate Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) was a further 3 1/4 lengths away in third to cap a memorable outcome for Appleby, while Ballydoyle's Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) never looked like justifying 11-8 favouritism in seventh. “I went a bit weak on him the last half a furlong–I couldn't believe it and all I could think of is that my mother would be watching and she would have been happy,” an emotional Kirby said. “There's been ups and downs and swings and roundabouts, but it's racing and when it comes to Charlie Appleby, he's a top man and I can't thank him enough. He's a true gentleman and a great trainer and his team is second to none.”

Adayar had shown what he could do on rain-softened ground when scoring by nine lengths in the “Golden Horn” Maiden S. over an extended mile at Nottingham in late October, just a fortnight after a debut fourth over the same course and distance. A real eye-catcher when running against the bias and staying on from rear to be second to Alenquer (Fr) (Adlerflug {Ger}) in the Sandown Classic Trial, he had chased home Third Realm (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) with no obvious excuses in Lingfield's Derby Trial and was understandably pigeon-holed as a St Leger type as a result. Brought here nevertheless, he was part of the jockey merry-go-round which had dominated so much of the week's Derby news but the fates conspired to bring him and the man who played such a big part in his formative days together in a perfect arrangement. Brought along at Kirby's pre-training centre at Vicarage Farm outside of Newmarket, this was a sub-plot that had been ignored as the hype was focused elsewhere.

Having first lost what can now only be seen as a genuine contender in Alenquer due to a setback, William Haggas had to deal with a double blow as the unexpected 11 millimetres of rain that fell on the Downs on Friday effectively ruled out Mohaafeth (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) as well. That significant easing in the going, which was generally described as “hard work” by jockeys riding earlier on the card, meant that while Frankel had one less contender in the ranks after the Shadwell dynamo was pulled out at least two of his other trio were coming into the mix. From the start, as Kirby sent Adayar forward from the lowest draw Bolshoi Ballet was markedly sluggish with Ryan Moore having to niggle to get him in a prominent position. Hurricane Lane's rider William Buick was also unhappy after the first half a mile as Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Youth Spirit (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) led the way, but Kirby was always sitting on a lot of horse in the pocket in behind.

Penned in tight to the rail heading down the hill to Tattenham Corner, Adayar was in the right spot heading towards the strip of preserved fresh ground in the straight while Hurricane Lane kept working out wide to forge ahead of the fading Bolshoi Ballet and one-paced Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}). When the eventual winner was pointed at the tight alley of light between Gear Up and the fence passing three out, he answered with an enthusiastic surge and from there it was a case of horse and jockey in perfect unison as the powerful galloper drew clear. The race's remarkable story Mojo Star, who had looked the only colt to be out of place in the line-up beforehand, excelled to champion Richard Hannon's judgement as he stayed on to separate himself from the rest.

Charlie Appleby was typically humble in his appraisal of the victory afterwards. “Firstly, all the credit goes to Sheikh Mohammed and Team Godolphin,” he commented. “I'll be honest with you, we spoke on Wednesday night after the horses did their breezes in the morning and I said to His Highness 'I couldn't be happier with them all, but I did feel this horse was more of a Leger horse', and he said 'Charlie, run him, there's only one Derby' and as always he was right. From the team's point of view, it's fantastic, they all work so hard. I'm delighted for Adam, we saw all the trials and tribulations in the build-up to the Derby and it was a fantastic ride. He was hungry for it and he knew this horse better than most as he broke him in. It's great for all the team at Vicarage Farm, where the dam is one of the homebred mares and it's a huge team effort. I can't thank everybody enough to be in this position standing here again in this hallowed ground. It's all about His Highness and Godolphin and the whole team behind it. They bring these magical days. We'll just let the dust settle, but we always felt the Leger was going to be his target and if he hadn't run here he was going to go to the [G2 Queen's] Vase [at Royal Ascot]. He's a great big, scopey horse by Frankel and time will benefit him still. To win the way he has done, he's stamped his authority there among the three-year-old middle-distance horses.”

Aidan O'Brien was bemused by the performance of Bolshoi Ballet and said, “He just ran a bit lifeless. What the reason was, I'm not sure. It doesn't work every day. That's the way life is. I don't want to make excuses, because I don't want to take away from the other horses. He was in the perfect position. He wants nice ground and maybe that was the reason.”

Adayar is the third live foal out of the G3 Prix de la Grotte winner and G1 Irish 1000 Guineas runner-up Anna Salai (Dubawi {Ire}), who took four goes to successfully deliver for the operation. She is a daughter of the G3 Prix d'Aumale winner Anna Palariva (Ire) (Caerleon), who produced the four-times listed-winning and group 3-placed Advice (GB) (Seeking the Gold) and the useful Iguazu Falls (Pivotal {GB}) who took the Listed Surrey S. at this meeting. Anna Palariva, who is also the second dam of the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere-winning sire National Defense (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), is the leading performer out of the G3 Park Hill S. winner Anna of Saxony (GB) (Ela-Mana-Mou {Ire}) whose other descendants are headed by the GI Flower Bowl Invitational heroine Ave (GB) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

Anna of Saxony, who descends from the G2 Preis der Diana-winning champion and blue hen Anna Paola (Ger) (Prince Ippi {Ger}), is also connected to this year's G2 Diana-Trial winner Amazing Grace (Ger) (Protectionist {Ger}) and is a half-sister to the dams of the Australian group 1-winning sires Epaulette (Aus) and Helmet (Aus) and the G1 Premio Vittorio di Capua and G2 German 1000 Guineas heroine Anna Monda (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}). Anna Salai's unraced 2-year-old filly by Teofilo (Ire) is named Bedouin Queen (GB), while she also has a yearling full-brother to Adayar.

Saturday, Epsom Downs, Britain
CAZOO DERBY-G1, £1,125,000, Epsom, 6-5, 3yo, 12f 6yT, 2:36.85, g/s.
1–ADAYAR (IRE), 126, c, 3, by Frankel (GB)
1st Dam: Anna Salai (GSW-Fr, G1SP-Ire & SP-Eng, $158,818), by Dubawi (Ire)
2nd Dam: Anna Palariva (Ire), by Caerleon
3rd Dam: Anna of Saxony (GB), by Ela-Mana-Mou (Ire)
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN; 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby; J-Adam Kirby. £637,988. Lifetime Record: 5-2-2-0, $945,547. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Mojo Star (Ire), 126, c, 3, Sea The Stars (Ire)–Galley (GB), by Zamindar. (130,000gns Wlg '18 TATFOA; 220,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT). O-Amo Racing Ltd; B-Barbara Prendergast (IRE); T-Richard Hannon. £241,875.
3–Hurricane Lane (Ire), 126, c, 3, Frankel (GB)–Gale Force (GB), by Shirocco (Ger). (200,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT). O-Godolphin; B-Normandie Stud Ltd (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby. £121,050.
Margins: 4HF, 3 1/4, 3 1/4. Odds: 16.00, 50.00, 6.00.
Also Ran: Mac Swiney (Ire), Third Realm (GB), One Ruler (Ire), Bolshoi Ballet (Ire), Youth Spirit (Ire), John Leeper (Ire), Gear Up (Ire), Southern Lights (Ire). Scratched: Mohaafeth (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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