ROYAL ASCOT, ENGLAND // New Godolphin chief executive Joe Osborne is looking to implement a fresh structure within the next few days as the fallout from John Ferguson’s departure continues.
Ferguson took over as Godolphin’s chief executive in December 2015 and he did so on the remit of giving the Dubai-based organisation a shake up.
Ferguson resigned from his position two weeks ago, but this week Godolphin had their best Royal Ascot for 13 years.
Godolphin rounded off the week with six winners after they failed to hit the bullseye on Saturday.
The highlights included their stunning three-timer on Tuesday involving Ribchester and Barney Roy, both of whom Ferguson bought, and Saeed bin Suroor’s first Group-level success here for five years when Benbatl held off Coolmore’s Orderofthegarter in the Hampton Court Stakes.
It was confirmed on Thursday Osborne will step up from his interim role.
"I will be responsible for coordinating the global team," Osborne said. "Racing and breeding are two of those strands, as are stallions. I won’t have the title of racing manager like John did — it is group chief executive.
"We are going to sit down and work out internally how it is going to work in the next few days and from there I will put a structure in place."
One of the driving forces that crowbarred Ferguson out of his position was Bin Suroor’s long-standing and powerful relationship with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Osborne hopes to make good use of this.
"My role is about looking forward now, not looking back," he said. "I’ve known Saeed since he started working for Sheikh Mohammed. He has got a great team and I look forward to working alongside him as well.
"It is a good thing he has a strong relationship with Sheikh Mohammed. It is all part of it. It is all about getting Sheikh Mohammed the success he deserves and this is the standard we are aiming for.
"We have great people working for us everywhere so it is my job to coordinate the team and it is about moving this all forward, and in the same direction."
Osborne’s in-tray is bulging, but clearly not impossible. In Australia, where Godolphin have enjoyed a remarkable season with over 200 winners and five Group 1 victories, Racing New South Wales are set to open an inquiry in to an alleged positive test of strangles, a highly contagious infection of the upper respiratory tract.
In Europe, the fallout between the UAE and Qatar looks unlikely to spill over on to the racecourse with Richard Fahey, the trainer of Ribchester, still mulling over the possibility of running the four-year-old colt in the Sussex Stakes on August 2 at the Qatar Goodwood Festival next month. Fahey reported on Saturday that Ribchester is in fine shape after his victory.
"The Prix Jacques Le Marois race is only 10 days after Goodwood so he won’t be doing both," he said. "It will be one or the other, but we will see how he is beforehand."
Sheikh Mohammed did not accept any of the trophies at Royal Ascot this week in person, but he did cross the winner’s enclosure to shake hands with Khalifa Al Attiya, the general manager of Al Shaqab, after the Qatari racing operation’s Qemah beat Godolphin’s Usherette in to third in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes on Wednesday.
