Geoffrey Riddle
London // Competing against Godolphin must sometimes be like facing the Hydra, the serpent-like creature with multiple heads from Greek mythology; if one head is cut off, more take its place.
Khawlah, the UAE Derby winner, is struggling to make her engagement in Thursday's Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot and may miss out. In her place steps another contender, the filly Rumh.
Khawlah was required to fulfil a 30-day quarantine after she became the first filly to win the Derby on Dubai World Cup night in March. Since she has arrived in England, however, she has failed to shine.
Godolphin have won the Ribblesdale Stakes three times in the past decade, with Flying Cloud and Hibaayeb carrying the silks of the Maktoum family's private stable to victory in the last two runnings of the 2,400 metres Group 2 contest.
"She didn't work well on Thursday so there is a doubt whether she will run," said Simon Crisford, Godolphin's racing manager. "She has not really sparkled since she arrived. She had a shipping fever and maybe it is all catching up with her. We will decide after the weekend."
Rumh finished behind Izzi Top and Dancing Rain at Newbury in May, and those two fillies went on to dominate the English Oaks last weekend.
On the day of Khawlah's lacklustre display on the gallops Rumh was motoring down Newbury's straight, putting six lengths between her and her eight rivals in a Listed race over 2,000m.
Rumh is trained by Saeed bin Suroor, who with 32 winners at the Royal Meeting stands in fourth place in the current list of most successful trainers.
Bin Suroor has lagged behind Mahmood al Zarooni in terms of winners so far this British season. With Godolphin's two-trainer strategy now firmly in place, the Hydra metaphor rears its head once more.
Whether Khawlah makes it on Thursday, Godolphin are also planning on the same day a twin-pronged assault on the Gold Cup, the stamina-sapping 4,000m contest now in its 204th year. Bin Suroor lines up Holberg, while al Zarooni saddles Opinion Poll, who will be ridden by man of the moment, Mickael Barzalona.
Holberg was good enough to finish sixth in the Melbourne Cup in November while Opinion Poll kept on finding one or two too good in his three runs during the Dubai Carnival last season.
"Holberg and Opinion Poll have to step up on what they have achieved," Crisford said. "They've got place chances. You wouldn't fancy them to be win because they haven't showed anything in their previous form to suggest they can win a race like this."
The Gold Cup is a race that Godolphin have won four times so they know what sort of horse is required. Even with the withdrawal of Rite of Passage on Friday due to a training setback, Crisford was downbeat about the chances of his representatives.
"Look, we've had Gold Cup horses in our stable before. You get a feel for them," he said. "We've had some really good ones and these two would not be at the sort of level of some of the other horses that have won this race for us. That said, they are in good form and hopefully they are still on an upward curve."
Since So Factual became Godolphin's first success at Royal Ascot in 1995, the Dubai-based organisation have only once failed to return a winner at the five-day meeting in any given year. If Khawlah does not make Thursday's line-up, and the Gold Cup horses fail to fire, it is reasonable to assume that another of the Royal blue hordes will step in to the breach.
