Feature Story

Godolphin close to record north American pace of 2021

Godolphin close  to record north American pace of 2021 Nov 17, 2022

By Michele MacDonald While Godolphin hasn’t done that just yet, the blue team already has come close to the unprecedented marks it set in North America during 2021, with the four recent Breeders’ Cup winners propelling the stable far ahead of rivals. With a month and a half of racing still to go in 2022, albeit with the calendar not including as many rich purse plums as in the past two months, Godolphin ranked high atop the list of leading North American owners by total earnings with slightly over $15 million.

That amount is almost $6 million ahead of second ranked Klaravich Stables. Further, the 2022 seasonal earnings already are enough to rank second all time on the continent only to Godolphin’s record smashing $17.42 million banked in 2021, with all figures quoted as reported by Equibase.

But there is so much more that can be said about Godolphin’s 2022 year in North America. At some point prior to the Breeders’ Cup, Godolphin runners amassed enough earnings to surpass the breathtaking $100 million mark, including all prize money gathered since 1994, an amount that crested to over $108 million after the Breeders’ Cup.

That total surpasses other prominent stables, including Juddmonte, which also reached the $100 million level this year and stood at over $101 million following the Cup. No currently ranked American-based operations come close to that level of sustained achievement.

Adding another level of success into the Godolphin mix was the fact that nine of the stable’s runners had succeeded at the Grade One level in the United States or Canada through to the middle of November and all nine are homebreds. In 2021, the stable campaigned ten Grade One winners with eight of those being homebred.

While Godolphin doesn’t offer detailed data on its racing operations, the statistics it does share online show that worldwide in 2022, the stable had earned 28 Grade One wins so far this year, meaning that approximately 43% of that total came by way of the USA or Canada. Modern Games won twice at the elite level in North America as did Santin and Cody’s Wish, upping the overall total of North American Grade One wins to 12.

As this year was beginning, Godolphin’s new director of bloodstock in America, Michael Banahan, reflected that it was going to be ‘very hard’ to come close to 2021’s records, yet here we are. Once again, much of the credit goes to UKbased trainer Charlie Appleby, who, just as he did in 2021, saddled three Breeders’ Cup winners, with this year’s victors being Rebel’s Romance (Turf), Modern Games (Mile) and Mischief Magic (Juvenile Turf Sprint), as well as juvenile colt Mysterious Night, winner of the Grade 1 Summer Stakes in Canada, and Nation’s Pride, victorious in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes.

American Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott added two Grade One victors in Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody’s Wish, who also accounted for the Forego Stakes, and Carter Handicap winner Speaker’s Corner, while Brendan Walsh dispatched Arlington Million and Turf Classic Stakes winner Santin and Brad Cox trained Acorn Stakes winning filly Matareya.

And the wins keep rolling on for Godolphin. On 12 November, Godolphin homebred juvenile filly Twice As Sweet, a daughter of Candy Ride and the Graded Stakes winning Tapit mare Snowbell, prevailed in the Smart Halo Stakes at Laurel Park for Walsh. Although the Appleby invaders have for the second consecutive year played the major role in Godolphin’s stampede through North America, now is a good time to take another look at how the stable has allotted its relatively small group of American-based horses to its five regular trainers: Mott, Walsh, Cox, Michael Stidham and Eoin Harty.

With 79 horses currently listed on the roster, Walsh has 21 in his care, with Mott and Stidham supervising 16 each, and Cox and Harty at 13 apiece. Of the 79 horses, 41 are 2yos and 14 are geldings, including eight juveniles reported as already gelded. Among that group is Last Cookie, a 2yo son of Bernardini who is a half-brother to multiple Grade One winner Frosted.

Other notable young horses on Godolphin’s American roster include Accidental Icon, an Into Mischief 2yo half-sister to the late sire Scat Daddy who raced for the first time in early November for Mott but finished fifth at Aqueduct; Ski Country, a juvenile son of Frosted out of UAE-bred American Grade One winner Balletto who is with Harty, and Pretty Mischievous, a 2yo Into Mischief filly out of Grade One winner Pretty City Dancer who won both of her starts for Walsh in September and October and appears primed for Stakes competition.

Other juveniles in America for Godolphin include winners Padma, a Tapit filly from a family of several Grade One victors, and Marvelous Time, a daughter of Distorted Humor and 2007 UAE Oaks and 1000 Guineas winner Folk. How many more wins, Stakes trophies and dollars Godolphin can reap in North America before 2022 ends is anyone’s guess, but perhaps the bigger question may concern what lies ahead in 2023 if the stable can keep up the daunting pace it has been setting for nearly 24 months.


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