What a momentous week for Godolphin

The first days of July 2018 will go into the annals of Godolphin history as among the most eventful in recent memory.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed’s horses have been making headlines both on and off the track with a regularity that serves as a reminder of the great depth and diversity of his global stable.

At Chantilly on Monday, 9 July, legendary stallion Dubawi was responsible for his 100th individual Group winner when Godolphin’s Crown Walk, trained by Henri-Alex Pantall and ridden by William Buick, landed the G3 Prix Chloe.

Then came the glamorous Newmarket July Meeting, at which Charlie Appleby sent out six winners in the Godolphin royal blue colours, including the highly impressive Quorto, who took the G2 Superlative Stakes in the manner of a very promising type.

Saeed bin Suroor saddled Best Solution for a courageous win in the G2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes, which almost certainly earned him a ticket to the Melbourne Spring Carnival, along with stablemate Benbatl, who is bound for the G1 Cox Plate.

There were also winners in France on Sunday when the Andre Fabre-trained duo Gyllen and Inns Of Court recorded wins that suggest they will both be major players in the second half of the season.

However, all that success on the track was tempered with the news that Masar, Godolphin’s G1 Derby winner, is to miss the rest of the season. He will be rested and given every chance of making a full recovery.

“He is a Derby winner, and a very good one, as the form book is now showing quite clearly,” Appleby pointed out.

“We hope he gets his chance for a crack at races such as the G1 King George and G1 Arc next year at four,” the trainer added.