When he stepped on to the Eclipse Awards stage in Florida to claim Godolphin’s trophies as America’s outstanding owner and outstanding breeder for 2022, Michael Banahan declared that the pressure already was “on to try to improve and hit ever greater heights.” Two days later, Godolphin already was firing with dead aim, as the saying goes, at that target set by the operation’s American director of bloodstock.
Even though you might not have read many headlines about Godolphin following the big Pegasus World Cup day of 13 races worth a total of $5.84 million at Gulfstream Park and, undeniably, there was some disappointment in the fifth-place finish of homebred Proxy in the headline event, the blue team enjoyed important measures of new year success.
Not only did Godolphin notch its first Grade One victory of 2023 as a breeder when Atone scampered home to win the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes, Sheikh Mohammed’s team also was the breeder of Endorsed, who captured the Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes on the programme.
As a further embellishment, Godolphin owns and bred Adventuring, the 5yo mare who set the pace and held on admirably for third in the 1 ½-mile, Grade 3 La Prevoyante Stakes on the Gulfstream turf. Adding even more achievement to the day, Godolphin homebred filly Wet Paint splashed through rain and mud to win the Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn Park and earn 20 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Oaks in May.
And there’s more. On the previous day at Fair Grounds, Godolphin’s homebred 4yo Into Mischief colt Strobe won his seasonal debut to record his fourth victory in five starts and signal he is ready for Stakes competition, according to jockey Florent Geroux. The aforementioned horses raked in over $900,000 for their efforts and Godolphin thus is very much off and running for more trophies.
Homebred performers to date include blueblooded, Stakes placed females Padma and Lake Lucerne, and another well bred filly, Purrfect, who won an allowance race. Of course, the elusive big Pegasus prize would have been the best of all on the racetrack, but Proxy endured a puzzling trip, flailing about in next to last of 12 runners in the 1 1/8-mile race through the first six furlongs before running on to gain fifth, worth a generous $84,000.
“He had a lot of kickback and he wasn’t too happy with that; he put his head up in the air a little bit. He came running late, but sometimes that can cost you the race,” jockey Joel Rosario reported after breaking from the rail. “He still ran good after all that. Proxy’s effort, which left him 7 ½ lengths behind upset winner Art Collector, may have snuffed out any chance that he would be set to Meydan for the Dubai World Cup.
Overall, the Pegasus did not seem to yield any sterling candidates for either Dubai’s marquee event or the Saudi Cup, which offered an automatic free berth to the winner. “We didn't nominate for either race, and at this moment we plan to keep him on a domestic path, and we probably won't be going to either Saudi or Dubai,” said Pegasus winning trainer Bill Mott after greeting Art Collector in the winner’s circle.
“Just the timing of it and the fact that we ran such a big race today, I don't think that we'd be looking at either of those races.” Mott, who made history 27 years ago as trainer of inaugural Dubai World Cup winner and American Hall of Fame champion Cigar, has developed 6yo Art Collector into an admirable ‘money making machine’ for owner and breeder Bruce Lunsford.
Also connected to Godolphin through his sire, Sheikh Mohammed’s late champion and classic winner Bernardini, Art Collector has now banked $4,012,490 and has achieved two Grade One wins in his overall record of 11 victories in 21 starts. His previous elite score, a front running romp in the 2021 Woodward Stakes, denied Godolphin’s Maxfield that prestigious trophy.
What’s next for Art Collector remains to be seen, as plans already call for him to, when retired from racing, stand stud at his birthplace, Claiborne Farm. Mott said he was in no hurry to make decisions and would review how the horse emerges from the Pegasus before considering future racing targets.
Neither of the Pegasus runners-up, Defunded nor Stilleto Boy, seems an ideal candidate for the 1 ¼-mile Dubai World Cup, even though the former is a Grade One winner and the latter has now earned third in two runnings of the Pegasus. As a footnote to America’s first big day of racing in 2023, it is interesting to see Godolphin-breds Atone and Endorsed scoring graded wins for other owners following their culling from the blue ranks as part of purposeful efforts to keep numbers manageable.
Endorsed, now a 7yo horse by Medaglia d’Oro and a halfbrother to multiple Grade One winner Cody’s Wish, was lost for $100,000 in an allowance/claiming race at Saratoga in 2021 while trained by Mott. He finished fourth in last year’s Pegasus and just missed gaining a slot in this year’s race. Atone, a three-time winner while trained by Eoin Harty for Godolphin, is a son of Into Mischief who was gelded prior to being sold for $130,000 to current owner Three Diamonds Farm at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton July horses in training sale.
He was produced by the Grade Two placed, Stakes winning A.P. Indy mare Captivating Lass, a daughter of UAE 1000 Guineas winner and American Grade One placed Folk. Now 14, Captivating Lass was sold by Godolphin for $50,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November sale but will be far more valuable at present considering her pedigree and new production success.
Godolphin also recently parted with one of her two daughters, the 4yo Way of Life, by Street Boss and in foal to Astern, when she was auctioned for $11,000 at the Keeneland January sale. Another daughter, unraced 3yo Rekindled, by Nyquist, is listed by Godolphin as in training with Harty.
