Newmarket// A Godolphin trainer based in this headquarters of British racing has not won the English 2,000 Guineas since 1999, but Charlie Appleby is hopeful that might change after Emotionless worked before racing here on Wednesday.
Last season Emotionless set pulses racing when he demolished a Group 2 field with utter contempt at Doncaster in September, but when pitted against the might of Ballydoyle he wilted in the white heat generated by the scorch marks of Aidan O’Brien’s Air Force Blue in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes in October.
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The son of 2005 French Derby winner Shamardal was found to have chipped a bone in his knee, however, and since passed fit from surgery the giant colt has kept Appleby dreaming of a first British Classic success throughout the winter.
Wednesday’s workout under William Buick was nothing special. Emotionless had to be urged to win a sedate racecourse gallop that wound up during the 1,400 metres against handicapper Bow And Arrow and Golden Heritage, a National Hunt horse. In the final stages Buick was hardly motionless in the saddle as his partner squeezed through a narrow gap on his way to victory.
What it did show, however, was that where Emotionless had been a nervous juvenile when he underwent a similar exercise before the Dewhurst, he is physically and mentally more of a man now.
“He’s had three runs during his career – I call it two-and-a-half runs, really,” Appleby said. “His first two wins were easy, and when you win like that you don’t learn a great deal.
“He got warm before he galloped here as a two year old before the Dewhurst, but I was delighted by his demeanour today. He was nice and relaxed.
“He will take a lot from today.
“He’ll come on again for that, and we are exactly where we need to be at this time.
“He has filled out in all the right places.”
Once racing had begun Ibn Malik and Mahsoob provided Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, the Minister of Finance, a double on the card respectively in the European Free Handicap and the Group 3 Earl Of Sefton Stakes. Mahsoob struck last season at Royal Ascot over 2,000 metres but had struggled to match that form in two subsequent runs.
Given the winter off, the five year old knuckled down over 1,800 metres to beat a tenacious Air Pilot by a length and a quarter under Paul Hanagan.
Richard Hills, the assistant racing manager to Sheikh Hamdan, who was present, suggested a drop back to 1,600 metres was likely.
“He has been working well and has been showing a lot of speed,” Hills said. “I don’t think a drop back to a mile will be a problem and we’ll look at something like the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes next month.”
Emotionless beat Ibn Malik hollow last season at Doncaster and that horse proved far too good for Malih Al Basti’s Great Page over 1,400 metres, and could next clash back here next month with Dr Ali Ridha’s Gifted Master, who won the 1,200-metre sprint from O’Brien’s Waterloo Bridge.
There was a historic moment when Sutter County scrambled home in the 1,000-metre novice event for juveniles in the new light grey silks of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
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