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The English page - Godolphin rules the roost at Baden-Baden

Ghaiyyath, "the monster". www.galoppfoto.de

Autor: 

David Conolly-Smith

TurfTimes: 

Ausgabe 584 vom Freitag, 06.09.2019

Godolphin was the dominating factor at Baden-Baden last weekend. First by buying the three top lots at the BBAG Yearling Sale on Friday and contributing greatly to the success of the sale; then by winning the two most important races on the Sunday, first the Group Two Oettingen-Rennen over a mile with Vintager (Mastercraftsman), and then, far more importantly, the Group One 147th Longines Grosser Preis von Baden, normally Germany´s most prestigious race, in spectacular fashion with Ghaiyyath (Dubawi)

The Grosser Preis looked beforehand quite open with several possible outcomes, but in the end Ghaiyyath turned the race into a procession, scoring by fourteen lengths, which could have been even further had jockey William Buick ridden him right out to the line. With the expected front-runners slowly away, there was some early scrimmaging for the lead, before Buick took Ghayyaith to the front after one and a half furlongs. He made the rest of running, leading by five lengths coming round the final bend and still going strongly, with most of his rivals already in trouble; in the final two furlongs he went further and further clear before coming home in solitary splendour.

This was an amazing performance, one of the best ever seen on a German racecourse. It is however very difficult to quantify. The handicappers have finally settled on a new rating for Ghaiyyath of 127 (he was on 118 coming into the race); this makes him currently the second best racehorse in the world, after dual Arc winner Enable (Nathaniel) on 128 (who would of course received a sex allowance of three pounds should they meet in the Arc or elsewhere). The rating is based on runner-up Donjah (Teofilo), Germany´s top juvenile filly last year and on her only 2019 start a rather unlucky sixth in the Group One Preis der Diana. This year´s German Derby winner Laccario (Scalo) finished a tired third more than four lengths further back, bur according to his trainer “needed the race”, while there were more than four lengths again back to fourth-placed Colomano (Cacique), a consistent group race performer who has regularly run to a rating of 110 on almost start for the past two years.

Obviously some of the runners must have run below form; this is certainly true of the unbeaten Ashrun (Authorized) and also Communiqué (Casamento) – a Group One runner-up last time- both of whom ran as if something were amiss and finished tailed off. But it is unlikely to be true of all of Ghayyaith´s eight opponents. The ground was – as so often at Baden-Baden – very bad, but the going was fast after yet another long dry spell, and the time of the race was the second-fastest this century. Basically one has to accept the form at face value.

It is rare for a German race to cause such a splash in other racing countries, but Ghaiyyath certainly hit the headlines everywhere, especially as his next race is likely to be the Arc. This has still to be confirmed, and Charlie Appleby made it clear that the decision whether or not to run will be made by the owner Sheikh Mohammed, but the Arc looks the obvious race. The bookies obviously believe so; he was 33-1 before the race, was slashed to 16-1 immediately afterwards and is now a general 10-1 chance. As a result of various setbacks Ghaiyyath is very lightly raced and the Grosser Preis was only his seventh career start.

As far as his Arc prospects are concerned, it is quite possible that he could improve past even his current rating, and he only has to find a couple of pounds to give Enable and co a really hard time. One problem is that he seems to run best fresh. He won the Prix d´Harcourt this April after a long break, but ran below that form in the Ganay three weeks later– a possible “bounce”? The Baden-Baden race came after another break of four months, but there is only five weeks between the Grosser Preis and the Arc. And he appears to be a natural front-runner, so could be setting it up for the opposition in Longchamp.

However he is “an absolute monster” (William Buick) and the best horse seen running here since the days of Danedream, who brought off the Baden-Baden –Arc double in 2011; as did Godolphin´s Marienbard in 2002.  Although his previous form was all over ten furlongs or less, he clearly stays the Arc trip very well. As a son of Dubawi out of a Galileo mare who is also the dam of a winner of the Group One Man o´War Stakes, he is certainly bred for the job; he was bred by the Weld family´s Springbank Way Stud close to the Curragh racecourse and was bought by John Ferguson for Godolphin at Goffs as a foal for 1.1 million euros – the most expensive foal of the year in Europe. We must all hope that he wins the Arc, or at least runs a great race, and confirms the Baden-Baden form.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Godolphin, Appleby and Buick team had taken the Oettingen-Rennen with Vintager, who scored by a neck, just scrambling home after taking the lead too early. Connections of runner-up Nica (Kamsin) felt that they were unlucky, but had Buick waited longer, Vintager would probably have won more easily. Sunday also saw a surprise English victory in the race for pure-bred Arabians, with the winner trained  by Philip Collington near Newmarket, while French and English-trained fillies took the first three places in the fillies and Mares listed race.

However it was not all one-way traffic, and Saturday was a good day for German breeding, with Gestüt Schlenderhan´s homebred Alson (Areion) winning the Group Three Zukunftsrennen  and the Ittlingen-bred Amorella (Nathaniel) taking the Group Two T. von Zastrow Stutenpreis, easily defeating Durance (Champs Elysees) with British challenger Shailene (Rip Van Winkle) a long way back in third.  Alson´s rating has been put up to 107, which makes him likely to be Germany´s champion two-year-old this season; he beat a strong international field in good style and could run next in the Group One Prix Jean-Luc Lagadère on Arc day at Longchamp. 

This weekend´s racing in Germany pales in comparison with the Baden-Baden meeting, which must be regarded as a success despite unpleasantly hot weather; betting turnover was up by 8% though still peanuts compared to other racing jurisdictions, and the positive impression left by the Grosser Preis and Ghaiyyath will certainly stay in the memory for a long time. There are two decent races for juveniles at Düsseldorf on Sunday and we shall look at those winners next week.

David Conolly-Smith

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