Ascot, England // Forty years ago on Tuesday, a diminutive filly called Hatta became a first winner for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The subsequent founder of Godolphin, who was then 27, travelled to Brighton racecourse by train to watch the filly he had bought for just 6,200 guineas contest the Bevendean Maiden Stakes.
Hatta won under Australian jockey Ron Hutchison, and picked up the regal sum of £968.60 (Dh4,546) for the owner.
“I can recall Hatta being a nice filly,” Hutchison said this week. “She won very nicely. It was an enjoyable day for him, I’m sure.”
What a difference 40 years makes.
Sheikh Mohammed is likely to arrive at the opening day of Royal Ascot by helicopter.
His Godolphin breeding and racing operation now spans the globe and in terms of numbers, there is not an owner on the planet that can match him.
Meydan Racecourse rose out of the rubble of Nad Al Sheba in 2010 and in March hosted the world’s best horse when Arrogate won the US$10 million Dubai World Cup.
Several years ago a race on World Cup night was seen by some to be detrimental to a horse’s summer campaign, but that is no longer the case.
Gun Runner, who was second to Arrogate, was an imperious winner of the Stephen Foster Handicap in the United States over the weekend.
Meydan is now woven in to the fabric of international racing, and is a crucial stepping stone at the beginning of the international season.
Godolphin’s Ribchester is a case in point.
The four-year-old colt, trained in the north of England by Richard Fahey, starts as the hot-favourite for the opening race of 30 in the Queen Anne Stakes having finished third in the Dubai Turf in March.
Where Hatta raced for comparative pennies Ribchester, and fellow Godolphin representatives Toscanini and Dutch Connection, are gunning for a share of £600,000, the joint-second most valuable purse across the week alongside the Diamond Jubilee Stakes and behind Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes at £750,000.
The purse is one thing, the prestige and breeding value that can be gained from victory at the world’s premier five-day international meeting is on a different scale. And the stakes could not be higher. Royal Ascot will be broadcast in 175 territories with a reach of 650 million households.
For the first time there will be four hours of live coverage in America courtesy of NBCSN, as they put the spotlight on the biggest US raiding party ever. The Middle East and North Africa will be serviced by Abu Dhabi Sports and Dubai Racing Channel.
Godolphin, like never before, fly the flag for Dubai and UAE in Britain this week. The ruling Qatari family run Lightning Spear, widely considered the second favourite to Ribchester, ahead of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Mutakkayef.
Qatar Racing are also going to field their own pacemaker in Dutch Uncle, who will presumably clash with Toscanini up front.
With Sheikh Ahmed Bin Rashid’s Ennaadd also engaged in the opening salvo of the meeting, it promises to be a combustible start to proceedings.
Godolphin’s chances on Day 1 do not rest solely with Ribchester, either. Profitable, who was bought on behalf of Godolphin by former chief executive John Ferguson, bids to emulate one of Meydan’s favourite sons in Sole Power by posting back-to-back victories in the King’s Stand Stakes.
Forty minutes after that Thunder Snow and Barney Roy try to dethrone Coolmore’s champion-elect Churchill in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
Things are a lot more complicated, thrilling and exciting than winning a maiden at Brighton 40 years ago.
Excitement builds for trainer Fahey
Tensions are always fraught ahead of any sporting occasion as high profile as Royal Ascot, but trainer Richard Fahey is looking forward to showcasing Ribchester’s talents in the Queen Anne Stakes today.
Ribchester is the highest-rated horse out of the 16 runners in the Group 1 contest, and the mount of William Buick looks to have everything in his favour.
Like the first ball in an Ashes series, or the kick off for Saturday’s British & Irish Lions Test match against the All Blacks, getting the details right can be the difference between winning easily and something going horribly wrong.
Ribchester has not run since he destroyed a decent but unspectacular field in the Lockinge Stakes last month, a race in which his pacemaker missed the break and was rendered effectively useless.
Fahey knows too well, therefore, that sport at the top level is a game of chance, but is happy that he has played the percentages with the Godolphin colt.
“You are always worried that something goes wrong but we are very happy and comfortable where we are,” he said.
“To win a Group 1 like the Lockinge you are always anxious. It was his first run back in England and you think might not go right.”
Ribchester has beaten rival Lightning Spear four times, and the latter was three-and-three-quarter lengths behind last month.
The American raiders of Graham Motion’s Miss Temple City, who will be ridden by Edgar Prado, and American Patriot, who will have Frankie Dettori in the saddle, are a fascinating addition. So, too, is the presence of Melbourne Cup-winner Michelle Payne, who will ride Kaspersky.
“It is an advantage getting it out of the way, but I am looking forward to it,” Fahey said.
“This is what I get up for at 4.30am, to see races like this and be part of it. If I get beaten, though, I might go home after the first race.”
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