MyRacehorse, a U.S.-based racehorse micro-share ownership operator, is expanding to the UK and Ireland with three 2-year-olds, including a 450,000gns Dubawi (Ire) colt purchased out of the Tattersalls October Book 1 Yearling Sale. Out of J Wonder (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), he is trained by Andrew Balding. John and Thady Gosden have a $300,000 Keeneland September filly by Mendelssohn for the GI Kentucky Derby/GI Breeders' Cup Classic-winning organisation. The trio is rounded out by a Zoffany (Ire) filly in the yard of Joseph O'Brien. She was purchased for €170,000 at Goffs Orby.
MyRacehorse has over 100 horses in training in America and over 50,000 registered users. They added another location, Australia, in June of 2021, and currently have 36 horses there and over 12,000 owners Down Under. Their aim is to make racehorse ownership available to any casual fan by way of fractional shares. In most cases, shares for their UK/Ireland venture will be priced under £200. For more information, please visit MyRacehorse's website.
Jules Pittam, UK Managing Partner of MyRacehorse, said, “We want to give people the opportunity to experience elite ownership at an affordable price and encourage new owners into the sport. Our goal is to increase engagement with the industry overall by providing owners unrivaled behind-the-scenes access and hopefully the opportunity to enjoy some of the best moments in sport as they tread the path to glory.
“The tide is turning on racehorse ownership, and the sport is becoming more reliant on shared ownership and syndicates–something we at MyRacehorse are passionate about. We want to offer this unique opportunity to racing fans in both the UK and Ireland and give them the chance to join our 70,000 strong global community.
“Unlike other ownership models, we offer contractual racing and breeding equity; so when our horses win big, so do our owners.”
In a race for the ages that three horses deserved to win, the brave pacesetter Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) and defending champ Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) could not be separated and a dead-heat was eventually declared. A full eight minutes passed after a course-record smashing renewal of the $5-million G1 Dubai Turf before a stunned Meydan Racecourse audience knew which of the trio had emerged victorious in a desperately close finish.
Sparkling trainer Yoshito Yahagi, who was savoring his third win on the card, exclaimed, “We've had a lot of good luck today so we didn't think we'd lose! I've never known a wait like that in a photo finish.”
Then, the fast-finishing Vin De Garde (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was declared a hard luck third despite being well in front just past the wire. His disappointed jockey Mickael Barzalona said, “My horse ran a very good race. We were unlucky.”
As the the eventual winning pair circled the walking ring with their connections anxiously awaiting the judge's decision, racing pundits marveled over whether they had ever witnessed a more exciting race in World Cup night history.
Under jockey Yutaka Yoshida, Panthalassa, a Group 2-winning entire in his native Japan who had never ventured outside of his homeland, bagged the early lead, set demanding fractions and gave his all while racing closest to the far side rail.
A pleased Yoshida said, “It was a very good run from my horse and he did all that I asked of him and only just managed to hold on at the end.”
Flanked on both sides by his Japanese-trained revivals, Lord North, a 6-year-old gelding who had broken the Meydan course record in last year's renewal when beating Vin De Garde by three lengths, benefited from regular rider Frankie Dettori's patience and a well-timed bid.
Awaiting the verdict, Dettori said, “I thought I was beaten on the line so I will settle for a dead-heat if it's available. He had half the year off, he almost died last year so to get him back performing at this level, it is a credit to the team.”
The winners stopped the timer in 1:45.77 besting Lord North's mark of 1:46.46 for the 1800-metre distance.
A poised John Gosden, co-trainer with his son Thady of defending champion Lord North, said, “That's a very fair result as we got ourselves in a bit of a Japanese sandwich there and those horses are so tough. They've been buying horses for the last 30 years or so and their investment is paying dividends, they've come here and knocked us for six–they've gone and won four races now.”
He continued, “I'm thrilled with our boy. He's been off for a year with a very nasty throat infection and we've managed to get him back in time.”
The 4-year-old Newmarket-based filly Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), ridden by Hollie Doyle, finished best of the rest, 3 1/2 lengths behind the winners. Her satisfied trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam said, “She ran a great race. I'm really delighted. she's so tough and we'll have a lot of fun with her this year.”
If the race had a disappointment, it was the highly-regarded Japanese colt Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}), who crossed the line in eighth. His jockey Christophe Lemaire said, “He had a good trip in the middle. He didn't finish like I expected. He is better than that.”
The William Haggas-trained Mohaafeth (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) cost himself his chance when sluggish to begin. He ended up 10th in the field of 14.
The 2004 renewal of the race, then known as the Dubai Duty Free and contested at Nad Al Sheba, finished in a dead-heat between Paolini (Ger) (Lando {Ger}) and Right Approach (GB) (Machiavellian).
Pedigree Notes
The five-year-old horse Panthalassa was sired by Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), a world-class sprinter who won 13 of his 19 races and is best known as the sire of G1 Hong Kong Sprint winner Danon Smash (Jpn) and the redoubtable champion Almond Eye (Jpn), a multiple Group 1 winner in Japan and Dubai. His dam is Miss Pemberley (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), who raced six times in Japan without winning. Five of her eight foals have won in Japan with Dimension (Jpn) and Etendard (Jpn), a pair of Deep Impact fillies, joining Panthalassa as Japanese black-type performers.
Lord North, a gelded son of Champion sire Dubawi, was bred by Godolphin in Ireland. Raced by HH Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed Racing, his dam is Najoum (Giant's Causeway), a Kentucky-born Godolphin homebred, who won two of her four lifetime starts and showed promise as a 2-year-old winning a seven-furlong race on turf and an eight-furlong race on Polytrack. Najoum is a half-sister to GI Blue Grass S. winner and former Kentucky-based stallion Bandini (Fusaichi Pegasus). In addition to Lord North, Najoum has produced three other foals with the horse Chronicles (GB) (Street Cry {Ire}), winner of a 10-furlong Irish maiden race as a 3-year-old, being her only other winner.
Saturday, Meydan, Dubai DUBAI TURF SPONSORED BY DP WORLD-G1, $5,000,000, Meydan, 3-26, 3yo/up, 9fT, 1:45.77, gd.
(DH)-1–LORD NORTH (IRE), 126, g, 6, by Dubawi (Ire)                1st Dam: Najoum, by Giant's Causeway                2nd Dam: Divine Dixie, by Dixieland Band                3rd Dam: Hail Atlantis, by Seattle Slew
O-HH Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed Racing; B-Godolphin (IRE);
T-John Gosden; J-Frankie Dettori. $1,175,000. Lifetime Record:
G1SW-Eng, 15-8-4-1, $4,209,593. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
(DH)-1–PANTHALASSAÂ (JPN), 126, h, 5, by Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1st Dam: Miss Pemberley (Ire), by Montjeu (Ire) Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2nd Dam: Stitching (Ire), by High Estate (Ire) Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 3rd Dam: Itching (Ire), by Thatching (Ire)
O-Hiroo Race Co Ltd; B-Pangloss Y K, Toshihiro Hirosaki et al
(JPN); T-Yoshito Yahagi; J-Yutaka Yoshida. $1,175,000. Lifetime
Record: GSW-Jpn, 20-6-4-0, $2,888,474. *1/2 to Etendard
(Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), GSP-Jpn, $770,677; and Dimension
(Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), MGSP-Jpn, $1,030,766. Werk Nick Rating: B+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
3–Vin de Garde (Jpn), 126, h, 6, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Skia (Fr), by
Motivator (GB). O-Shadai Race Horse Co Ltd; B-Shadai Farm
(JPN); T-Hideaki Fujiwara. $500,000.
Margins: DHT, NO, 3HF.
Also Ran: Saffron Beach (Ire), Sir Busker (Ire), My Oberon (Ire), Alfareeq (Ire), Schnell Meister (Ger), Colonel Liam, Mohaafeth (Ire), Ursa Minor (Ire), Haqeeqy (Ire), Desert Fire (Ire), Harrovian (GB). Scratched: Finest Sound (Ire), Lord Glitters (Fr). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree of Lord North or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree of Panthalassa.
Prince Faisal's globetrotting multiple Group 1 winner Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) has recovered in good order from a last-placed finish in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup near the end of February, but will not defend his G1 Dubai Sheema Classic title on Mar. 26. The John and Thady Gosden trainee will instead wait until the G1 Coral-Eclipse S. in July. Also, a winner of the G1 Juddmonte International S. at York in August, the 5-year-old entire was fourth in the G1 QIPCO Champion S. on Oct. 16.
Ted Voute, Racing Manager for Prince Faisal, said, “I saw John Gosden at Wednesday at Kempton and he said he was sound and great and he hadn't done any veterinary check-ups yet. He was on Warren Hill and everything appeared fine.
“He definitely wasn't himself in the Saudi Cup. Basically, most of last year, every time he ran in a Group 1 we did a medical check-up afterwards. He is valuable and he is pretty well insured, so we made that a standard practice. I think we are waiting to see if that throws any light on it.
“Looking at it, I think it was multi-factorial. He didn't break as well as last year and David had to fight with him a little bit. Every time you do that he hangs his head on the side slightly and says, 'Oh, I'm not sure I like this'. The track was a little bit deeper and he got some dirt in his face, and he wasn't used to that particularly. I don't think any one of those things beat him, but maybe a combination of all of them might have done.
“I can't pinpoint anything apart from what everybody else can see at this moment. I'm sure John will say something when he has run the tests.”
Voute added, “John did say he is not in any rush. We will try to follow the same plan as last year, so that would be the Eclipse next. We definitely won't go to Dubai. I say that, but last year we said we wouldn't go, then all of a sudden we went to the Sheema Classic.”
Prince Faisal's globetrotting multiple Group 1 winner Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) will undergo a thorough examination once he returns to the UK, according to co-trainer Thady Gosden, who trains with his father John. The 2021 G1 Juddmonte International and G1 Dubai Sheema Classic hero was attempting to become the world's richest racehorse with a title defence of the $20-million Saudi Cup, which was elevated to Group 1 status this term. However, the 2020 G1 Prix du Jockey Club hero failed to fire in Riyadh on Sunday and trailed home last of 14. After his International win last summer, he was fourth in the G1 QIPCO Champion S. at Ascot on Oct. 16.
Gosden said on Monday, “He was hard up on the pace early and he just stopped coming round the bend. He's flying back to the UK today so he'll have full check-up with the vet when he gets home.”
