GOODWOOD // The only day that could accurately be described as "glorious" at Glorious Goodwood over the past week was Thursday, but alternating misty sea drizzle and torrential rain aside, the action on the track did much to live up to the famous festival's name. "Glorious" would perhaps be too strong a word to describe Godolphin's week, but there are indications that the Dubai racing operation is coming into form for the second half of the season.
The boys in blue were notably quiet in the opening days, but when they did warm up they scored in style with a victory for the handsome chestnut, Schiaparelli, in Thursday's Group Two Coutts Goodwood Cup. The race was Dubai dominated, with another UAE runner, Mourilyan, under champion jockey Ryan Moore, pushing Frankie Dettori on Schiaparelli all the way to the wire. With the Godolphin trainer, Saeed bin Suroor, and the stable's racing manager, Simon Crisford, in attendance, Dettori performed his famous flying dismount in the parade ring - a crowd-pleaser normally reserved for success in Group One races.
Friday brought more Godolphin honours, this time for the two-year-old generation, with a second for Buzzword, held up in traffic in the Group Two Richmond Stakes, and the narrowest of wins for Black Snowflake in the RSA Nursery Handicap. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid's great filly, Ghanaati, failed in her test against the boys in the Group One BGC Sussex Stakes, which was won by the much-improved and courageous Rip van Winkle for Aidan O'Brien under Johnny Murtagh.
Sheikh Hamdan, however, was not without success, winning the Group Two Betfair Cup with the returning Finjaan, trained by Marcus Tregoning. stregoning@thenational.ae