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Godolphin Homebred Highland Avenue Takes Kempton’s Road To The Kentucky Derby Stakes

Highland Avenue, a 3-year-old son of Dubawi, captured Wednesday's Road to the Kentucky Derby Conditions Stakes at Kempton Park in the UK to earn 20 points on the European road to the roses. The Godolphin homebred, trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden to victory by Hollie Doyle, won the one-mile contest over synthetic with a last-to-first run to score by 1 3/4 lengths.

It was one of five wins on the night for Doyle, tying her own record as the first female jockey to ride five winners on the same British card.

Reflecting on the five-timer, Doyle told track publicity: “It's great as these things don't happen very often so you have got to make the most of them.

“I seem to do quite well here but I've had some good rides here today. Charlie Appleby's horse has got a lot of potential and I thought if I get beat on that I will give up!

“I thought Archie's should go close and to be honest when I spoke to Tony he filled me full of confidence with all three of his rides. You just need a bit of luck and I have had that. My agent has done me a good job in getting a good book of rides.

“I'm never satisfied with what I have done and I always want to achieve more and when you get on these sort of runs you always want to do better.”

The victory puts the Godolphin colt atop the leaderboard with two races to go, with the top-earning colt offered a spot in the starting gate for the May 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. The March 5 Patton Stakes at Dundalk in Ireland also offers 20-8-4-2 points and the April 1 Cardinal Condition Stakes at Chelmsford City will settle matters with the awards on the 30-12-6-3 scale.

Highland Avenue is two-for-two this season, both victories coming over Kempton's synthetic course.

Appleby, speaking away from Kempton, told track publicity: “He is very much a work in progress sort of horse. He is a big raw horse and Hollie has given him a lovely ride. He was a bit slow from the gate and he just missed the beat there. They've gone a nice sensible gallop and he has picked up well. He is a horse that we hold in high regard.

“I'm pleased as well in the fact that he made all last time and he has come from behind tonight so he is learning on the job. I think he is going to be a nice horse for the season.

“He has got a few entries as everyone can see (2,000 Guineas and Irish Derby), but he is one of those horses that we will see how he comes out of it before making a forward plan for him.

“Whatever he does in the first half of the year is going to be a bonus as he is a second half of the season type of horse with very much a four-year-old career ahead of him.”

Mike Stidham Talks Mystic Guide, Godolphin, Arlington On Writers’ Room

With over 2,000 wins and dozens of graded stakes scores on his resume, Mike Stidham has well established himself as a top trainer in this business. But as of yet, his stable hasn't quite found its breakout star–one that can take him to Breeders' Cup glory and maybe even an Eclipse Award or two. That may have changed with the arrival of Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) in Stidham's barn two years ago, as the Godolphin blueblood has steadily developed into a budding star, fresh off a jaw-dropping victory in the GIII Razorback H. and headed for an engagement in the G1 Dubai World Cup. Wednesday morning, Stidham joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss his plans for Mystic Guide, how the Godolphin racing and breeding operation works, the demise of his beloved Arlington Park and more.

“As you can see from his past performances, we took our time with him. We spaced his races,” Stidham said of Mystic Guide's steady progression. “There were a lot of temptations because it had been moved to September to still try to make the Derby. He just always seemed like he was a step or two behind some of the top 3-year-olds last year. So we gave him the time and felt like he had really moved forward late in the year. At that point, again there was temptation to try him in the Breeders' Cup, but we decided to do the right thing and get him ready for his 4-year-old year. We never turned him out, we just lightened up on his training and I felt really confident from a maturity standpoint, mentally and physically, he had gone the right way. So the [Razorback] performance was not surprising.”

Asked about the surging Godolphin racing operation in America and how it operates across several trainers, Stidham commented, “When you look at the stallion power of these horses–Tapit, Hard Spun, Curlin–then you look down and you see mares like Panty Raid, Music Note, it's only a matter of time until they start to do what they're doing. Interestingly enough, the trainers never see the 2-year-olds until they walk into their barn. I know that Jimmy [Bell] makes trips down to Ocala where they're in training, mostly with Eddie Woods, Niall Brennan, David Scanlon, but we don't know anything about what we're getting until we get a list sent to our email. Until they walk into our barn, we've never seen them before. I think they try to somewhat fit horses to the programs that we're running and obviously they've done a great job, because it's working really well.”

Stidham has been a mainstay at Arlington Park in the summer for several years and has won multiple training titles there. But the news is not good for the Chicago-area plant, as it appears Churchill Downs will abandon racing there after 2021. He didn't mince words when asked his feelings about those developments.

“I'm very, very disappointed in the way Churchill has handled Arlington. I think it's total disrespectful to the Illinois horsemen,” he said. “For me, Arlington was like a national park would be for the public, where you cherish it, and for anybody to go in and tear it down and make it into a residential area because it's better for the stockholders shows no respect for the tradition of Arlington or the horsemen who fought for so many years to try to get gaming there to bolster Illinois racing. For them to walk along with the horsemen for all those years acting like they wanted gaming, then finally get it and then just flat turn it down because they got involved with a casino 15 miles away and didn't want the competition, it's just horrible and sad. It's a very sad day in racing to lose Arlington Park.”

Elsewhere in the show, the writers talked to TDN European editor Emma Berry about the Gordon Elliott story, reacted to a big weekend of 3-year-old racing and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, broke down the implications of the Irad Ortiz, Jr.-Paco Lopez fight. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Godolphin Colt Earns Kentucky Derby Points

5th-Kempton, £38,000, Cond, 3-3, 3yo, 8f (AWT), 1:38.12, st/sl.
HIGHLAND AVENUE (IRE) (c, 3, Dubawi {Ire}–Lumiere {GB} {Hwt. 2yo Filly-Eng & G1SW-Eng, $329,674}, by Shamardal), a Jan. 30 last-out winner over course and distance, employed patient tactics in rear for the most part of a contest carrying points towards a Kentucky Derby invitation. Making eyecatching headway along the far-side rail in the straight, the 4-9 lock gained an edge approaching the eighth pole and was ridden out in the latter stages to deny 200-1 chance Sergeant Tibbs (GB) (Bobby's Kitten) by 1 3/4 lengths. Highland Avenue therefore earns 20 points towards the Kentucky Derby. Kin to a 2-year-old filly by Galileo {Ire}) and a yearling filly by Sea the Stars (Ire), he is the first of three foals and lone performer out of G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Lumiere (GB) (Shamardal), herself a full-sister to GI E.P. Taylor S. victric Sheikha Reika (Fr). Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $39,342.
O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby.

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Razorback Winner Mystic Guide To Ship For Dubai World Cup

Trainer Michael Stidham told the Daily Racing Form that Saturday's G3 Razorback Handicap winner Mystic Guide will head overseas to contest the Dubai World Cup, scheduled for March 27. The Grade 1-placed son of Ghostzapper won Oaklawn's $600,000 race by six lengths, and should be one of the lower-priced choices in Dubai.

A Godolphin homebred out of the five-time Grade 1-winning millionaire Music Note (A.P. Indy), Mystic Guide won the G2 Jim Dandy Stakes last year before finishing a close second to Happy Saver in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Plans call for the 4-year-old to ship from Stidham's base at the Fair Grounds to Miami on March 15, then to the UAE on March 17. No decision has been finalized on a jockey, Stidham said.

Other American horses targeting the Dubai World Cup are Sleepy Eyes Todd and Tacitus, both of whom contested the Saudi Cup and remained overseas.