Godolphin Racing Wants To Win Run for the Roses
I Want Revenge, Musket Man, Pioneerof The Nile Raise Derby Hopes
Apr 4, 2009
Who will Godolphin Racing send to the Kentucky Derby?
Will one race (the Kentucky Derby) accommodate all the talent of this year's budding Thoroughbred stars? They are big -- Dunkirk and Quality Road. They are bursting to run all out -- Pioneerof The Nile. They are full of heart, able to come from behind like a speeding bullet -- I Want Revenge. They are mighty and strong in the lane -- Musket Man. And they are already well tuned -- Friesan Fire, The Pamplemousse, and Chocolate Candy.
And they are Godolphin Racing racers -- Vineyard Haven, Desert Party, and Midshipman.
Can Godolphin Racing Win the Kentucky Derby?
Godolphin Racing's owner, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is also the brainchild of the richest Thoroughbred racing meeting in the world, the Dubai World Cup carnival. Godolphin runners have shared the Dubai star-studded stage with American Thoroughbreds since the beginning, when the incomparable Cigar won the inaugural meeting.
One race has eluded Sheikh Mohammed's stables -- the Kentucky Derby. Sheikh Mohammed badly wants to win the Derby. He makes no secret of it. He pursued and purchased Vineyard Haven and Midshipman, last season's leading American juvenile colts, with eyes toward the 2009 Kentucky Derby.
Who Will Run For Godolphin In the Kentucky Derby?
Breeders' Cup Juvenile champion MIdshipman went off the Derby trail with a foreleg injury. Vineyard Haven bombed in his 2009 debut. Both colts had been shipped to the UAE to Godolphin's Al Quoz Stable for seasoning.
Then Regal Ransom, stablemate to the better thought of Desert Party, ran 1-2 in the UAE Derby in the Dubai meeting. American jockey Alan Garcia got Regal Ransom, a son of Distorted Humor, to the wire ahead of Desert Party, son of Street Cry, a previous Dubai World Cup victor.
The double-punch-win prompted Sheikh Mohammed to make the duo his Derby dabble in May.
Did Godolphin Bid On Quality Road?
A recent issue of The Blood-Horse magazine (April 4, 2009) reported in the article "Talking the Talk" by Jim Freer that a bloodstock agent of Middle Eastern persuasion made a bid to buy Quality Road after the colt broke his maiden at Aqueduct on November 29 in his first racing effort. A figure of $2.5 million was tossed out, as was the goal of winning the Kentucky Derby.
The prospective buyer was waved off with the information that Quality Road's owners had the same goal of shining in Louisville come May 2.
Three Colts Tune Up for Derby Favorite in April 4 Races
After his big shrug of Dunkirk in the Florida Derby, Quality Road figures to be on the Kentucky Derby favorite's board. But three other colts made their cases in big ways in April 4 races.
Musket Man led off the day's televised races at Hawthorne park in Illinois. He was relentless in the final stretch, refusing to relinquish a stride to Giant Oak's brief run at him. Eibar Coa enjoyed the ride.
The Wood Memorial became a showcase for I Want Revenge. The gutsy colt came from last place after a bad gate break to fight for the lead from behind a wall of horses. He would not be denied as jockey Joe Talamo guided him through the messy trip.
Pioneerof The Nile gave a maturing performance in the Santa Anita Derby. Even though he wanted to take the front with no pacesetters there, jockey Garrett Gomez was able to hold on enough to make him wait until the top of the stretch before he ripped out to the lead and won driving away.
The Pamplemousse may be out for the Derby. He was scratched from the Santa Anita Derby with a heated tendon.
