Charlie Appleby
Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Saturday's Insights features Thundersquall (GB), a son of G1SW Pleascach (Ire). 5.55 Kempton, Novice, £7,000, 3yo, 11f 219y (AWT) THUNDERSQUALL (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is one of two Godolphin representatives from the Charlie Appleby stable to feature in this contest, with the son of the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas and...
Creative Flair (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) had always looked like a promising filly for Godolphin and Charlie Appleby last year at three, and she built on that promise on Friday at Meydan with a first pattern-race win in the G2 Balanchine S. A winner in her second of two starts at two, Creative Flair won on Royal Ascot Trials day before finishing second in the one-mile Listed Michael Seely Memorial S. at York. Creative Flair stepped up to 2000 metres to earn a first black-type victory in the Listed Abingdon S....
The highlight of Friday's Dubai World Cup Carnival card is the G2 Zabeel Mile Presented By Emaar Beachfront. Saeed bin Suroor's Real World (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is riding a four-race winning streak since failing to win at the DWCC last term. One of three in the race for Godolphin, the 5-year-old entire won Royal Ascot's Royal Hunt Cup in June and followed up in a Newbury listed affair a month later. Successful in the G3 Strensall S. versus Meydan Group 1 winner Lord Glitters (Fr) (Whipper) on Aug....
Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), Godolphin's Cartier champion 2-year-old colt, has earned further plaudits by topping the European 2-year-old classification, which was revealed on Wednesday. The unbeaten G1 National S. and G1 Dewhurst S. winner achieved a mark of 122, seven pounds clear of the next best juveniles. Bred by Jose Delmotte's Haras d'Haspel, Native Trail passed through the sales ring three times before reaching the racecourse. A €50,000 Arqana December Foal when bought by Sam Sangster, he was pinhooked for 67,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October...
by Alan Carasso Naval Crown (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) provided his all-conquering sire his third winner in the last four runnings of the G2 Al Fahidi Fort S. and 143rd worldwide scorer at graded/group stakes level with a deceptively easy success in the seven-furlong test Friday at Meydan. Away alertly from a low barrier, the athletic bay found himself forwardly placed and was locked away at the fence as the veteran Ajwad (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) was ridden for speed from gate 13 and came across the field to lead...
Friday marks the second week of the Dubai World Cup Carnival at Meydan in Dubai, and three group races are slated to go ahead, as well as two G2 UAE Derby preps on the seven-race card. Godolphin fields a typically strong hand in the 1800-metre G2 Al Rashidiya Presented By Riviera Beachfront By Azizi on grass, which is an early pointer to the G1 Dubai Turf at the end of March. Aiming for a sixth consecutive renewal, the royal blue silks will be carried by a quintet from trainers-Charlie Appleby...
The 2022 Dubai World Cup Carnival lasts from Jan. 14-Mar. 5, Super Saturday and begins on Friday. The 19th edition of the DWCC features enhanced purses and a new group of turf races, the Jumeirah Series. Anchoring the first seven-race card-six Thoroughbred and one Arabian race--is the $250,000 G2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 Presented by Nakheel, which attracted a field of 14. Meydan veterans abound in the 1600-metre dirt contest, with 2021 G2 Godolphin Mile hero Secret Ambition (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) signed on, one of five for...
One Ruler (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), once considered a leading Classic contender for Godolphin and Charlie Appleby, looks to get his career back on track when he steps out in Friday's Zabeel Trophy, a one-mile conditions race on the turf, at Meydan. One Ruler, a homebred out of the former Andre Fabre-trained triple group-winning miler Fintry (Ire) (Shamardal), won the G3 Autumn S. at Newmarket in 2020 and was three-quarters of a length second to Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) in the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy. He managed only sixth,...
Trainer Charlie Appleby was named the 2021 British Champion Flat Trainer and Flat Trainer of the Year at the Horserace Writers & Photographers Awards (HWPA) Derby Awards at the Royal Lancaster in London on Monday evening. The 46-year-old was also named the Champion International Trainer, sponsored by the International Racing Bureau. The retained trainer for Godolphin based at Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket, Appleby celebrated 17 Group/Grade 1 victories internationally in 2021, including five British Group 1s, four QIPCO British Champions Series races and a trio of Breeders' Cup victories. The...
Dubawi (Ire) has long been established as a sire of international merit. This weekend at Del Mar, however, he took his reputation to another level, siring three winners at the Breeders' Cup-something never before achieved by a sire in the meeting's 37-year history. Twelve sires have supplied two winners in a single Breeders' Cup. That was first accomplished by Cox's Ridge in the second Breeders' Cup in 1985 when Life's Magic took the Distaff and Twilight Ridge the Juvenile Fillies. Four other sires did it when the Breeders' Cup was...
It wasn't a completely straight-forward weekend for Team Godolphin, given the unfortunate events prior to Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf which resulted in the scratching of Albahr (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). Stablemate Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) eased that disappointment with a convincing victory (for purse money only) in the Friday finale, and Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) capped a Saturday double for Sheikh Mohammed's operation with a fast-finishing victory in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, giving jockey William Buick, trainer Charlie Appleby and Darley's Dubawi three winners over the...
Following a bit of unwelcomed deja vu when Godolphin's rail-drawn Master of the Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) was scratched after rearing up in the gate, stablemate Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) became the shortest-priced winner on what became a pretty quirky day at the Breeders' Cup, coming away late to best pacesetting local Smooth Like Strait (Midnight Lute) in the GI Fanduel Breeders' Cup Mile, presented by the Permanently Disabled Jockeys' Fund. Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}), a well-backed fourth in last year's Mile, went a good race to finish...