If any illustration were needed of how far Godolphin have come during a difficult 12-month period it was at Thursday's news conference at Meydan Racecourse.
Last year Saeed bin Suroor and Mahmoud Al Zarooni delivered a joint news conference at Meydan following on from a solo spin in front of the media from Simon Crisford.
There were few jokes cracked, and Bin Suroor flew through his runners and appeared ready to leave from the outset.
Much like two leading strikers in a football team jostling for position, Al Zarooni had been handed the keys to two stables and was considered to be on a level pegging to the steadfast Bin Suroor, a man who had been with Godolphin for 19 years.
It was as if Godolphin were one team but with two camps and headed by a manager.
Al Zarooni and Crisford were not at Meydan on Thursday, having left the international racing operation of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE.
Al Zarooni left in disgrace and Crisford has departed from the organisation he helped set up in a move that has yet to be fully clarified.
In the same seat Al Zarooni had occupied 12 months ago sat Charlie Appleby, the Marmoom Stables trainer. He delivered a performance that shows that whatever course Godolphin were set on before the Al Zarooni drugs scandal erupted in April, under Appleby and Bin Suroor there is a very different feel.
It is fair to say that Al Zarooni and Bin Suroor appeared to be never more than just colleagues, but there is a warmth between the long-serving Al Quoz handler and his former assistant that was particularly evident yesterday.
Appleby was quick to mention Bin Suroor’s input as a crucial aspect to his enjoyment of his first season as a Godolphin trainer.
“As we all know there was a cloud, and we have a good strong team within Godolphin, and everybody has got together and got on with the job,” Appleby said.
“If you look behind you will be stagnant, and our vision in Godolphin is to look forward. It has been a great experience right from the get-go. Saeed has helped me from Day 1, and the support from his Highness and the whole team has been great.”
In the maelstrom that developed after Al Zarooni was found to have administered anabolic steroids to horses in his care, Godolphin turned to Bin Suroor to preside over Moulton Paddocks stables in Newmarket.
Appleby was interviewed and promoted, and sent to put right the management processes required to run an international racing operation from bases at Newmarket and Dubai.
Once Bin Suroor’s working practices had been put into place at Moulton Paddocks, he and Appleby embarked on Godolphin’s most successful season, in terms of winners, in the 20 years Godolphin have been in existence. Leading the line, Bin Suroor nursed Farhh, a fragile but brilliant racehorse, from a Group 1 win in May to a season-ending success in the Champion Stakes. There was also a maiden win for Appleby at the Breeders’ Cup with Outstrip.
The horses that were administered anabolic steroids and were banned for six months, such as Certify, were returned to the track with some success, and this UAE season Godolphin is again the leading owner at the Dubai Carnival.
For good measure Bin Suroor stands on the cusp of securing a seventh trainers’ title from perennial rival Mike De Kock.
“Saeed has done fantastically well and hopefully will be crowned champion trainer at Meydan on Saturday,” Appleby said. “We finished the British season off really well, so I feel we have travelled a long way up the road from where we were last season.
“Our job was to get those horses back on the track as quickly as we could and in the best form we could. The results prove that we have been doing our job.”
For Bin Suroor’s part he has taken the role of senior statesman within the organisation in stride in the absence of Crisford.
He has had fewer runners than Mike de Kock during the Dubai World Cup Carnival and still goes into Saturday's US$27.25 million (Dh100m) fixture four winners ahead.
He has twice as many runners as Appleby entered and seems to relish his new position as leader within the organisation.
“Charlie used to be my assistant before he moved to Mahmoud,” Bin Suroor said. “He has done well and is a nice man. People want to see good results from us but you need the horses to do that. It is the most important thing and you build up from there.”
Last year Godolphin had 23 horses engaged across the eight thoroughbred races on Dubai World Cup night. Saturday they will field 18.
Appleby’s Ahtoug runs in the ownership of Saeed Al Tayer, chairman of Meydan.
Godolphin has four in the World Cup.
Bin Suroor relies on Prince Bishop, the Al Maktoum Challenge round three winner, and African Story in an effort to register a sixth win in the US$10 million contest.
Appleby’s first runners in the world’s most valuable race will be Vancouverite and Cat O’Mountain.
Whereas 12 months ago Godolphin ran as two teams under the same banner, this year the four horses will represent the boys in blue in a manner not seen since Sheikh Mohammed appointed two trainers in 2010.
“The main exercise for us is to have the winner of the race,” Appleby said, underlining the new and refreshing team ethos.
“I’ll be the first person to congratulate Saeed if he wins and likewise the opposite way around.”
Harmony, but with one small hiccup that stops things between the two men being perfect.
“He doesn’t like to shake them, though – my hands are always sweaty,” Appleby said.
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