Ruling Court

RULING COURT (c, 3, Justify--Inchargeofme {GB}, by High Chaparral {Ire}) looked a colt potentially out of the very top drawer as he ran out an emphatic winner of the Listed Jumeirah 2,000 Guineas at Meydan, completing a four-timer on Super Saturday for William Buick, Charlie Appleby and Godolphin. The 'TDN Rising Star', who topped last year's Arqana May Breeze-up Sale when bought for €2,300,000, had only two rivals behind him as Nedawy (Instagrand) took the field along him in the early stages, before making rapid headway to lead entering the...

Meydan's nine-race Super Saturday card features eight Thoroughbred contests, with several of them offering automatic entry into the big day in April. The G2 Al Maktoum Classic is one such race, with last year's G1 Al Maktoum Challenge hero Kabirkhan (California Chrome) signed on. Trained by Doug Watson and the very image of his dual American Horse of the Year sire, the 5-year-old entire was only eighth to Laurel River (Into Mischief) in the G1 Dubai World Cup last March, and returned to action with a seventh-place finish defending his...

Godolphin's Ruling Court (Justify), third in the G3 Acomb Stakes to The Lion In Winter (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), will point to the Jumeirah 2000 Guineas on Super Saturday in March, according to trainer Charlie Appleby. A five-length maiden winner at first asking at Sandown in July, the bay colt was a €2.3-million Arqana May Breeze-Up graduate. Ruling Court has been training toward his 3-year-old bow in Dubai. "He's done very well," said Appleby of his high-profile charge. "He was a breeze-up horse so we gave him a bit...

An interval of 136 years between Apollo and Justify, followed by one of just five to Mage, tells us all we need to know about the way modern trainers can (and increasingly prefer to) prepare their Derby prospects. So these remain very early days for the freshmen sires, nowadays responsible for such a large portion of every juvenile crop. In this era of monster books, especially, even the rookie with most action to date has barely scratched the surface. At the moment that's Vekoma, who lies second in the freshman...

It's not easy to write a column while watching the Olympics, especially as Britain attempts to out-battle France for eventing gold at the Palace of Versailles, but here goes. It was France which had the upper hand at Ascot on Saturday or, correctly speaking, Francis-Henri Graffard, whose return from Chantilly to the Berkshire track with the rampaging Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) should have been eye-popping enough to ensure that his runners are never again sent off at such generous odds in Britain. We can now savour the prospect of once...

Godolphin newcomer Ruling Court (Justify--Inchargeofme {GB}, by High Chaparral {Ire}) caused a stir when knocked down for a sale-topping €2.3-million at Arqana's Breeze-up sale in May and made another huge splash with an imperious performance to earn a 'TDN Rising Star' rosette in Thursday's Martin Densham & Peter Deal Memorial British EBF Maiden Stakes at Sandown. The seven-furlong contest has earned its status as an important staging post with recent winners including Arabian Crown (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}), Nostrum (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Kameko (Kitten's Joy). Ruling Court becomes the ninth...