Godolphin Racing Still In Kentucky Derby Chase

Midshipman Injury, Vineyard Haven's Poor Showing Bow to Desert Party

Mar 11, 2009 BarbaraAnne Helberg

Godolphin Racing, striving for supremacy in Thoroughbred racing, paid millions to get Kentucky Derby hopefuls Midshipman and Vineyard Haven. But Desert Party kicked in.

Godolphin Racing Kentucky Derby entrants from 1999 to 2002 were unable to live up to the expectations given them for the Run for the Roses, and this season the stable's two high profile purchased hopefuls for the Derby, Midshipman and Vineyard Haven, have already steered off the trail.

But will Godolphin Racing finally have its way through a man with a "do it my way" name, Steven Sinatra, on May 2 at famed Churchill Downs? Sinatra and his partner, David Smith, bred the bay colt named Desert Party, who is owned by Godolphin Racing, which may continue to aspire to win big in America's most enduring Thoroughbred racing party, that first Saturday in May Run for the Roses known world-wide as the Kentucky Derby.

Godolphin Racing Pays Big for Derby Chance

Bobby Frankel-trained Vineyard Haven was a sensation late last year, but Frankel did not enter him in the October Breeders' Cup competition. Having part ownership in the horse, Frankel opted to close down the Haven's season and put him away for Derby 2009 and possibly the Triple Crown trail.

Over the winter, Godolphin Racing agreed to a $12 million price-tag to acquire Vineyard Haven. In addition, they grabbed up Stonerside Stable prospect Midshipman, the two-year-old Bob Baffert-trained 2008 Eclipse Award winner who had steamed to victory, leaving no doubt of his talent, in the October Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

It looked as though Godolphin Racing could at last have the last laugh at the Derby, with Midshipman and Vineyard Haven looking like world beaters headed to their three-year-old seasons in 2009.

Midshipman Injury; Vineyard Haven's UAE Loss

Bad luck is part of Thoroughbred racing, and Godolphin Racing took a heavy dose of same on February 28. In a normal exercise run, Midshipman bruised his left foreleg. While the injury is to the soft tissue only and will heal properly given time, it put the leading colt out of the Kentucky Derby and off the Triple Crown trail. It marked the second season in a row that injury sidelined the previous year's Eclipse juvenile champion and changed the Derby outlook.

In 2007, a career-ending fracture suddenly wrecked the War Pass party. Nick Zito had said War Pass was the best prospect he ever trained and pointed to the Derby.

Godolphin Racing Still Smelling Roses

Godolphin owner Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum withstood a second shock when Vineyard Haven laid an egg in the recent UAE Two Thousand Guineas (UAE-3). VH could muster to no more than a fourth-place finish. The winner, Desert Party, beat his own stablemate, Regal Ramsom, by a convincing 4-3/4 lengths, crossing the line in a powerful drawing away stride.

Lots of Godolphin connections must be smelling roses in the Desert.

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