‘Modern’ Love In the Mile

If you decided to swallow the skinny-ish 6-5 about Godolphin's Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Mile, Sponsored by the Permanently Disabled Jockeys' Fund (PDJF) at Keeneland Saturday, hey–you actually got paid this time around.

The striking chestnut, who exuded confidence and class throughout the week–as reported by TDN's Steve Sherack and Christie DeBernardis on site–steamed down the center of the Keeneland turf course once produced in upper stretch by William Buick and raced away for a second consecutive victory at the Breeders' Cup.

Modern Games looked a bit toey in the stalls and indeed, hopped at the break, but was able to establish a position in midpack as Smooth Like Strait (Midnight Lute) took pace pressure in the form of European raider Pogo (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}), who held his spot at the rail, forcing Smooth Like Strait to make the running from the two path. The speed was strong enough–:23 flat for the opening quarter and :46.81 past midway–and that would have been much to the liking of Buick, who began to feel for Modern Games at the five-sixteenths pole, with 2020 Mile hero Order of Australia (GB) (Australia {GB}) lapped to his outside. The duo crept into a striking position as they neared the stretch, was swung out wide when push came to shove and showed a more decisive finishing kick than the Ballydoyle runner, hitting another gear entering the final furlong before motoring home to score cozily. 'TDN Rising Star' Shirl's Speight (Speightstown) ran on gamely and outfinished Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}), who worked out a nice trip from a double-digit draw beneath Frankie Dettori, to be third.

Modern Games was famously erroneously scratched after breaking through the inside stall before last year's GI Juvenile Turf, then was unscratched, but ultimately ran for purse money only. He duly won the race with a minimum of fuss. Modern Games, 6-5 on the tote as the gates sprung Saturday, returned $4.76–or nearly 7-5–under the new penny breakage rules in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) was pulled up and out of the race at the half-mile pole by Flavien Prat. A statement from Breeders' Cup said the 5-year-old was off in his left hind, was attended to by veterinarians and transported back to the barn by equine ambulance. There was no indication of lower-limb fracture, the statement said, and he was being stabilized for transfer to Rood & Riddle for further evaluation. Later in the afternoon trainer Chad Brown tweeted that Domestic Spending had suffered 'a serious pelvic fracture' and that he would provide updates when available.

“He has so many attributes to himself–his size, he's neat, he's nimble,” said trainer Charlie Appleby, celebrating an eighth Breeders' Cup success and fifth in the last two years. “That's why I think he's always thrived on these tracks here. Wherever he is, he's small enough to get through the gaps and he's neat enough to get around those turns.”

With Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) the team for the 'Boys in Blue' for the G1 English 2000 Guineas–they ultimately ran 1-2–Modern Games made the French equivalent a few weeks later his seasonal debut and validated 2-1 favoritism. Third in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club over a stamina-stretching 2100 meters, he was a slightly disappointing fifth in the G1 Prix Jean Prat going seven furlongs ahead of a brave second to Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Sussex S. at Goodwood July 27. A slashing, 5 1/4-length winner over Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}) in the GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile Sept. 17, the chestnut was back at home for his latest in the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. over rain-affected Ascot turf on QIPCO British Champions S. Oct. 15.

“He finished second [to Bayside Boy {Ire}, by New Bay {GB}] and from start to finish hated the ground, [that's ]the horse he is. A true warrior,” said Appleby.

Modern Games will be programmed for races like the G1 Lockinge S. and G1 Queen Anne S. early next season, with a return to California for a defense of his title very much on the cards, Appleby said.

Pedigree Notes:

The all-conquering Dubawi was earning a fifth Breeders' Cup race winner (Rebel's Romance would go on to make it a half-dozen in the Turf), including champion Yibir (GB) and Mile winner Space Blues (Ire) in addition to Modern Games last year.

As if his female family needed further burnishing, Modern Games's year-younger half-sister Mawj (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) was second in the G3 Albany S. at Royal Ascot this past June before going one better in the G2 Duchess of Cambridge S. during Newmarket's July meeting. Mawj was most recently third to Lezoo (GB) (Zoustar {Aus})–whom she beat in the Duke of Cambridge–and Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf romper Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) in the G1 Cheveley Park S. at headquarters Sept. 24.

The last reported foal out of Modern Ideals is a yearling filly by Mastercraftsman (Ire). Modern Games's female family also includes the outstanding Bosra Sham (Woodman) and her full-brother Hector Protector.

Saturday, Keeneland
FANDUEL BREEDERS' CUP MILE PRESENTED BY PDJF-GI, $1,840,000, Keeneland, 11-5, 3yo/up, 1mT, 1:33.96, fm.
1–MODERN GAMES (IRE), 123, c, 3, by Dubawi (Ire)
           1st Dam: Modern Ideals (GB), by New Approach (Ire)
           2nd Dam: Epitome (Ire), by Nashwan
           3rd Dam: Proskona, by Mr. Prospector
O-Godolphin, LLC Lessee; B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charles Appleby; J-William T. Buick. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: 13-7-3-1, $3,176,716. *1/2 to Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), GSW & G1SP-Eng, $153,786; 1/2 to Modern News (GB) (Shamardal), SW & MGSP-Eng, SP-UAE, $201,610. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Shirl's Speight, 126, h, 5, Speightstown–Perfect Shirl, by Perfect Soul (Ire). 'TDN Rising Star'. O/B-Charles E. Fipke (KY); T-Roger L. Attfield. $340,000.
3–Kinross (GB), 126, g, 5, Kingman (GB)–Ceilidh House (GB), by Selkirk. 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Marcstown Thoroughbreds; B-Lawn Stud (GB); T-Ralph Beckett. $180,000.
Margins: 3/4, NO, NK. Odds: 1.38, 55.67, 9.39.
Also Ran: Ivar (Brz), Malavath (Ire), Order of Australia (Ire), Pogo (Ire), Beyond Brilliant, Smooth Like Strait, Regal Glory, Annapolis, Dreamloper (Ire), Front Run the Fed, Domestic Spending (GB). Scratched: Gear Jockey, King Cause.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Home Comforts Help Euros To Away Treble

LEXINGTON, KY–Life in general, and life with horses in particular, simply doesn't dispense its favours with such an unstinting hand. Everybody understands that, and even an operation as lavishly resourced as Godolphin has over the years has experienced many moments of demoralization.

Charlie Appleby and his team, moreover, will be perfectly aware that others must be expected in future. Before the afternoon was out, indeed, their second runner had been thwarted in a desperate finish by their rivals at Ballydoyle. By barely a nose, then, Appleby was denied a fifth win from five consecutive Breeders' Cup starters–and duly found himself stranded on “just” seven winners overall from 13 runners. One day he will have to sit down and ask himself what on earth went wrong with the other six.

In the meantime, his record suggests a nearly surreal immunity to the trademark hazards of this business. Remember that last year he even achieved the memorable paradox of winning with a horse that had been scratched. And whether or not he can maintain the Midas touch on Saturday, or in future years, Appleby will surely never forget a moment that beautifully condensed his Breeders' Cup journey to this point.

That came after the GI Juvenile Turf Sprint when William Buick, having picked off his rivals from last place with nearly mechanical dash, in turn began plucking cremon yellows from the blanket over the withers of Mischief Magic (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) and throwing them into the air as they were led into the winner's circle. The flowers floated down out of the blue like autumn leaves and, strewn in the wake of the horse, were trampled into the dirt track as though their path was literally paved with gold.

And, to a degree, that was the case for all three European winners on a card that nowadays plays very congenially to their strengths. The expansion of the turf program at the Breeders' Cup may have terminally eroded international competition on dirt, to the extent that Arazi–author of the most memorable juvenile performance in the history of this meeting–would nowadays almost certainly have stuck to the grass. Whether that amounts to a net loss or gain is a debate for another day. As it was, with a fairly seamless climate further conspiring in their cause, all three races on “the weeds” were duly harvested by the two great powerhouses of the European Turf.

They had claimed one apiece, Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) picking up the gauntlet from Mischief Magic in the GI Juvenile Fillies Turf, until squaring up for a decider in the GI Juvenile Turf. Aidan O'Brien and his Ballydoyle team doubtless felt that they were overdue a break, if only in terms of their rivalry at this carnival, and it duly came as Victoria Road (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) stole a decisive march on Silver Knott (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) after both had been craving the first split.

O'Brien has ample mitigation in hardly matching Appleby's ratio across a much longer history at this meeting, not least in having sometimes brought horses here as a speculative postscript to a long season in Europe. Appleby, conversely, was fortunate to launch his career even as the turf program was opening up, and quickly learned to target specific types at a vulnerable sector of the American talent pool.

All the same his staggering record here is, of course, but one dimension of the way Appleby has turned round the fortunes of his stable after his predecessor had brought it to a humiliating nadir. No need to dwell on that, now, but it is worth reminding ourselves that his promotion from anonymity, to many, had seemed a rather stubborn reaction to the bitter crisis of 2013. Appleby had learned his vocation almost exclusively within the stable, and the Sheikh's solution represented a striking vote of confidence in the ability of his team to regroup.

Nobody should be deceived that there was any complacency in the camp. After this latest vindication of Appleby's appointment, however, Godolphin managing director Hugh Anderson stressed that it did not really appear a gamble at the time. For one thing, everyone could see that this was an exceptional horseman. Barely less important, however, was the sense that the young man's innate modesty was shored up by attributes tailormade for such onerous responsibility. Anderson speaks of his “unflappable” temperament, of an “eternally cheerful” outlook and, above all, an exemplary touch with his staff.

So it is that he has arrived here having retained the trainers' championship, those laurels this time being shared by Buick. Besides their talent, both are united by an understated sense that the best way to manifest their gratitude for opportunities received is via deeds rather than words.

It was characteristic, as such, that Buick was so reluctant to accept much personal credit for what appeared, on the face of it, a really flamboyant ride on Mischief Magic. Appleby, who has developed such an acute instinct for the type of horse best adapted to the hustle and bustle of the racing environment over here, had been confident that it would really stimulate Mischief Magic. Sure enough, Buick could even be seen taking a pull at the reins as his mount surged through the traffic turning in. By Buick's own account, however, the horse had made all the decisions for him: unable to go the early pace, he began to engage even as the pace told on the leaders, and then switched leads with alacrity to settle the issue. The way the pair sidestepped their way through, nimbly moving in and out, seemed to obey a choreography as inexorable as a country dance.

A footnote of congratulation, by the way, to connections of runner-up Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}). They were deflated by Mischief Magic's astonishing late pounce, but with a filly this Grade I placing was a huge “win” all day long—and a fine piece of training.

But the man of the day was O'Brien, adding another increment to the legacy he has long been creating for the breed. With America waiting to anoint a horse with greatness after six career starts, let's remember the collective debt of future breeders to the regime developed between O'Brien and his patrons. Ballydoyle horses have their potential and genetic wares “proved” in a way today wholly unfathomable to most horsemen this side of the water.

Meditate was a natural, winning on debut on Apr. 10. She completed a hat-trick at Royal Ascot, while this was her third Group 1/Grade I start of the autumn. Victoria Road, conversely, has been one of those O'Brien projects where you see a horse learn with each rite of racetrack passage: though up and running in May, he took five attempts to break his maiden before the bulb really switched on.

For all his mastery, O'Brien has always shown a nearly pathological dread of vanity. They may serve very different masters, who set their different agendas in camps far apart, but the two trainers who dominated proceedings here on the turf are united by a scrupulous and authentic emphasis on teamwork.

True, one might doubt whether both would share too earnestly the curious tradition, unique in the racing year, that they have travelled here in common cause, as members of “Team Europe”. Be that is it may, however, this was a day when all Europeans could agree that the grass really is greener on the other side.

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Exceed and Excel’s Mischief Magic Rallies to Win the BC Turf Sprint for Godolphin

LEXINGTON, KY–Godolphin's Mischief Magic (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) started off the Breeders' Cup action on an unseasonably warm and picture perfect day at Keeneland Friday in style with a late-rallying victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

Dispatched at 6-1 in this 5 1/2-furlong event, the homebred was off slowest of all, leaving him trailing the field early. Meanwhile Speed Boat Beach (Bayern) and previously unbeaten Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) sped out to the early lead, dueling through a :21.65 opening quarter. American Apple (American Pharoah), a 51-1 shot, charged up the fence to take the lead approaching the far turn, just as William Buick asked Mischief Magic to begin his bid. The flashy bay responded, taking closer order up the fence to put himself in contention, but still had plenty left to do entering the bend. Stuck behind a wall of horses at the top of the stretch as Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) took control, Mischief Magic attempted to get out of traffic, but was quickly blocked off. However, another seam opened just in time as Speed Boat Beach called it quits and Mischief Magic punched through horses, forging clear late for a one-length score in front of a very appreciative crowd.

Dramatised held second with Private Creed (Jimmy Creed) in third. Tyler's Tribe was pulled up and vanned off after bleeding in this first start without Lasix.

“I have to say I knew they were going to go hard,” winning trainer Charlie Appleby said. “From the gate, William [Buick] is riding in such great form and has so much confidence in his horses. I can see what he was doing. He was just going to get him on his lead. But he made a lovely run (up the backside) and he was trying to angle out and just got pushed back (inside). He didn't do the horse any harm as I said to William, the one thing he wants is to give him gaps. Give him daylight and the old bugger just might have a second chance. Fantastic ride by William and great effort by all the team. Great to be back.”

“I expected to him to be outpaced early,” Buick said. “He's a comfortable closer at six furlongs at home. I knew the 5 1/2 furlongs here with the speed in the race would catch him out early. I knew if I got behind a horse that would take me into the straight, he would finish off real good. He felt super.”

The jockey continued, “He ran very well in the middle part (of his last race). It was a good race at Newmarket. This is only his sixth race. He's still learning. He enjoys this ground and everything came together for him today.”

As for the runner-up, trainer Karl Burke said, “She ran a fantastic race. We couldn't have asked for anything more, really. She's just a little bit slow for gate speed, which we were always a little bit concerned with, but Ryan (Moore) gave her a beautiful ride and was committed to go down the rail once we were slow away. Maybe we were a bit lucky to get the gaps in the straight. We thought we had it won a half-furlong out. Fair play–Charlie's horse is a very good horse. She's probably a stiff five-furlong horse.”

Breaking through at second asking at Goodwood in July, Mischief Magic romped in an allowance at Newmarket next out Aug. 13. He followed suit with a victory in Kempton's G3 Sirenia S. Sept. 3 and was fourth when last seen in the G1 Middle Park S. at Newmarket Sept. 24.

Pedigree Notes:

Mischief Magic represents Sheikh Moahmmed's operation from top to bottom. The chestnut is the 17th Grade I winner for Darley Australia's Exceed and Excel and his second Breeders' Cup winner, following 2013 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Outstrip (GB). He is also the 11th top-level scorer out of a daughter of Elusive Quality, who is now the broodmare sire of a whopping four Breeders' Cup winners. The other three all came on dirt with subsequent Eclipse winners in two-time GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Roy H, GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint victress Shamrock Rose and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Essential Quality, who is also a Godolphin homebred. Mischief Magic is bred on the same Exceed and Excel/Elusive Quality cross as MG1SW Guelph.

His unraced dam Veil of Silence, also a product of the Godolphin operation, is a daughter of English and Irish Highweight and MG1SW Gossamer (GB) (Sadler's Wells), who is a full-sibling to European Horse of the Year Barathea (Ire). Mischief Magic is the second graded winner for his dam, who is also responsible for GSW Sound and Silence (GB). The 16-year-old mare's most recent produce is a full-sister to Mischief Magic.

Friday, Keeneland
BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE TURF SPRINT-GI, $920,000, Keeneland, 11-4, 2yo, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.41, fm.
1–MISCHIEF MAGIC (IRE), 122, c, 2, by Exceed And Excel (Aus)
                1st Dam: Veil of Silence (Ire), by Elusive Quality
                2nd Dam: Gossamer (GB), by Sadler's Wells
                3rd Dam: Brocade (GB), by Habitat
1ST GRADE I WIN. O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charles Appleby;
J-William T. Buick. $520,000. Lifetime Record: GSW-Eng,
6-4-0-1, $607,317. *Full to Sound And Silence (GB), GSW-Fr,
MSW & GSP-Eng, SP-USA, $244,281. Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Dramatised (Ire), 119, f, 2, Showcasing (GB)–Katie's Diamond
(Fr), by Turtle Bowl (Ire). 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Clipper
Logistics; B-Branton Court Stud (IRE); T-Karl Burke. $170,000.
3–Private Creed, 122, c, 2, Jimmy Creed–South Andros, by
Sky Mesa. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE.
($45,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $155,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-Mike
McCarty; B-Sierra Farm (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $90,000.
Margins: 1, NK, 2. Odds: 6.92, 12.96, 10.33.
Also Ran: Persian Force (Ire), Lady Hollywood (GB), American Apple, Sharp Aza Tack, Love Reigns (Ire), Speed Boat Beach, Oxymore, The Platinum Queen (Ire), Tyler's Tribe. Scratched: Bushido, Mounsieur Coco, No Nay Hudson (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Appleby on Godolphin: ‘It’s like a football team here, all the players play their part’

NEWMARKET, UK–Dawn hasn't even broken on Thursday morning at Godolphin's Moulton Paddocks and trainer Charlie Appleby is discussing with his lieutenants Marie Murphy and Chris Connett which rugs to pack for his team of seven horses travelling to the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. 

“That's 14 crates we're up to now,” he says, rolling his eyes and smiling. “Wasn't like that back in the day.”

Appleby is a lifer when it comes to racing, from his days as a youngster working for Jackie Retter and Susan Piggott, to his role as Godolphin's trainer at Moulton Paddocks. To say that the private Newmarket estate on which his horses stretch their legs each morning is state of the art doesn't even begin to do justice to the eye-popping facilities available, from figure-of-eight covered rides, to spas, and a selection of gallops on turf, irrigated woodchip, and Polytrack.

By far the most endearing trait of Appleby–a widely-liked member of both the Newmarket and wider racing community–is the lightness with which he wears his success. In fact, he barely acknowledges it for himself, referring regularly to what “we've achieved”. Not the royal we, it's the team of which he is nominally the captain and very much a part.

As he stands alongside the canters that spread across the side of a gentle hill awaiting his first lot of 60 horses, Appleby chats about which surface he prefers (turf or woodchip over Polytrack) and says wryly, “I dread having a bad spell because when you look at all this, it's not like we could be let down by the facilities.”

Fortunately, he hasn't had to worry about too many bad spells, and certainly not in the last few years. As his ten-year anniversary at the helm approaches, he can boast of a record that most of his colleagues in the training ranks could only dream about. Not that he does. 

Since taking up the reins at Moulton Paddocks in July 2013, following a turbulent spell in the operation's history culminating in an eight-year ban for his former boss Mahmood Al Zarooni, Appleby, with his collaborative approach, has deftly steered Godolphin back into the big time of top-class winners the world over. In that relatively short time he has trained two Derby winners, an Irish Derby winner, six Breeders' Cup winners, Horse of the Year Ghaiyyath (Ire), champion two-year-old Native Trail (GB), Melbourne Cup hero Cross Counter (Ire), and a dual Royal Ascot Group 1 winner in one week in Blue Point (Ire). Following last year's sensational hat-trick at the Breeders' Cup, a season in which he became champion trainer for the first time, Appleby followed up this spring by becoming the first trainer to win 2,000 Guineas equivalents in three countries with three different horses.

“It's amazing how, when you come to the end of the season now, it just seems so far away what was achieved in the spring,” he says as he casts his mind back to Coroebus (Ire) beating Native Trail in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, before the latter took the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Modern Games (Ire) won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains.

“I have to remind myself of that, and also remind the team. It's like a football team here, all the players play their part and so you want to keep morale up during times where sometimes it might be a bit quiet. But it is also to just remind them of what they've achieved. Three Guineas winners in three different countries–that hadn't been done before. I take great pride in what the whole team has achieved.”

A key factor in the success of that team is in its longevity. Appleby himself, now 47, has been with Godolphin for almost quarter of a century, and he is surrounded by many longstanding colleagues, as well as an abundance of highly regarded former jockeys, both still in the saddle and on the ground.

As we head out to meet first lot, led by Modern Games, appearing from the trees after their warm-up, a figure emerges from the darkness and Appleby says, “Here's Benny The Dip's rider.” Step forward Derby-winning jockey Willie Ryan, the trainer's eyes and ears as the horses approach the canter. Among those still riding, spotted as daybreak eases the viewing, are former champions Kieren Fallon and Seb Sanders, one rather more stylish than the other.

Three equine-related subjects occupy Appleby's mind this morning. Uppermost is his septet about to depart for the Breeders' Cup, all of whom came through a final strong workout on Wednesday with no issues, and who will board the flight to America on Saturday. Next comes the matter of the trainers' championship, in which he has been duelling with fellow Newmarket trainer William Haggas for much of the season but now has the upper hand. Of no less importance on the personal front is how his twin daughters, the eldest two of four children he has with his wife Aisling, are faring in a half-term show jumping championship in Cheshire. Very well, it appears, and it will be no surprise to see the name Appleby become a dominant force in the pony racing ranks in the not-too-distant future.

The vagaries of the British Flat racing season mean that both the owners' and the jockeys' championships have already been decided, with Godolphin and William Buick lending a true blue hue to Champions Day when collecting their trophies at Ascot. The trainer has to wait until the end of the year to see if he will retain his title, but it is hard to imagine now that he won't. Furthermore, the stallion to whom Appleby owes a significant debt of gratitude, the 20-year-old Darley stalwart Dubawi, looks set to earn his first champion sire title in Britain and Ireland this year. It is nothing short of a bluewash.

“I know people will say, 'Well, it's done', but the championship runs until the end of the year and I think there are still some little chances for both myself and William to try and gain a bit more,” says Appleby, clearly not resting on his laurels.

“We've had those three Guineas horses, but we haven't had that standout horse that's gone through the season, and I take my hat off to William and Baaeed for keeping that consistency throughout the season at that top level. We've not had that horse.”

At the beginning of the year, it could well have been hoped that the standout horse would be Derby winner Adayar (Ire), but niggling problems meant that his return was delayed until September, when we saw him easily win a conditions race before chasing home Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) for second in the G1 Champion S. Happily, the imposing son of Frankel will remain in training at five, while his fellow Classic winners Native Trail and Modern Games look set to return at four.

This will no doubt be music to the ears of those who remember the elite Godolphin team of yesteryear, which was famed for its globetrotting older horses such as Fantastic Light, Kayf Tara (GB), and Daylami (Ire). Appleby, who certainly doesn't want for firepower when it comes to the bluebloods in his stable, has added another dimension of dominance at home and abroad.

“Most importantly, it was a brief from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed right at the start of all of this, very kind words, which were, 'I've got the confidence in you to do what you need to do, and the horses will repay you'. And, frankly, that's what they've done,” says Appleby.

“Last year, winning the championship was fantastic, but some people forget what we've achieved internationally. We're going to the Breeders' Cup hopefully with seven runners, and legitimate runners as well. And we've got a horse that campaigned in Germany all summer, and horses have been to France, and obviously we had our small team in America that did well. And that draws away from your home team. We are going out to try and win a championship, but we're also going out to try and win as many Grade 1 races as possible, because at the end of the day, we're an operation that is trying to produce stallions and trying to improve the broodmare band, so that's foremost in our programme.”

The cyclical nature of such a business means that next season the trainer will be overseeing the careers of some of the first-crop runners of his first Derby winner Masar (Ire), as well as top sprinter Blue Point. 

“That's exciting,” he says, “Especially with Blue Point being so close to everybody's heart. The only thing is that it reminds you you're getting a bit older.”

Season's end can also bring with it pause for reflection but, despite some rip-roaring years, Appleby appears intent on looking forward rather than revelling in past glories. 

He adds, “Every year since we've started training, myself and the management, we've got together at the end of the year and pointed out our highs and our lows. We look at what we can try to do to make things better. 

“We're approaching that time now, and one thing I want to applaud them all for is the consistency. We haven't dropped below a 30% strike-rate, thankfully, throughout the season. I don't purposely go out there to try and achieve good stats, but it's something that I will monitor throughout the season to see how we are doing, because at the end of the day, they don't lie.”

An international racing programme, peppered with regular trips to Dubai's Marmoon Stable for the trainer, means that consistency in the personnel at home, too, is paramount.

“Alex Merriam and Marie Murphy will represent us at a lot at race meetings internationally,” says Appleby. “They've got a great support team behind them as well, in the head lads that are involved here. We've all worked together for years and I very rarely have to give an instruction now, everything just happens.

“When I'm away and I phone the guys, we're all speaking the same language and we all look at the horse in the same manner. When I go round into those stables and I look at the horses, and I might say a certain horse looks light perhaps, Marie will already be on it because they're seeing it the same way as I'm seeing it.”

He continues, “And again, with the travelling team, Chris Connett and Chris Durham, they do such fantastic jobs on these trips, looking after these horses and training them in the same way. We're in a very luxurious position in that I very rarely have to tell them what to do. There's a system in place. The same people jump the horses off at the bottom of the canter, and the same people meet them at the top. I don't have to see those parts of their training because they will report back to me and say, 'So and so is sweating, he doesn't normally sweat'. We'll get straight back and look at the horse ourselves, and if we feel there's something that needs to be investigated, then we'll ask the farriers and the vets to be involved as well. You're always trying to nip something in the bud early.”

It would appear that Sheikh Mohammed shares his trainer's desire to look to the future. As well as an abundance of homebreds to come into training next year, Appleby can presumably anticipate the arrival of a significant number of the 35 yearlings recently bought by his boss for the equivalent of £26.5 million at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

“The enthusiasm from His Highness and the royal family is relentless, and it's fantastic for us, as well as for the sport and the industry,” says Appleby. “All we've spoken about lately is the yearlings. How are the yearlings getting on? That's the new generation, looking to the future, and that's why Dubai is what it is. There's always a vision there to keep driving on.”

The season may be coming to an end, but even in winter, there is little downtime for the modern-day Flat trainer. The yearlings are already being broken in by Tim Denniff and his team at a separate yard on the Moulton Paddocks estate, and of course the Dubai Carnival is another important focus for all employed at Godolphin. No wonder then that Appleby says in a brief reflection on the events of the last decade, “Where's the time gone?” 

He adds, “We all stood at the top of that hill back in 2013 talking about what we were going to try to achieve. There have been some bumps in the road, when the winners haven't flowed, or we haven't had those group winners that we'd like to have had. But I think generally, if I step back and look at our anniversary of 10 years, we could say we've not done too badly.”

Not too badly at all. 

The post Appleby on Godolphin: ‘It’s like a football team here, all the players play their part’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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