Dubai Godolphin strengthened their hand for the first Classic of the British season with Barney Roy and Dream Castle totally dominating their rivals in the Group 3 Greenham Stakes at Newbury on Saturday.
The Godolphin pair battled it out to the line with the Richard Hannon-trained Barney Roy (James Doyle) running down Saeed Bin Surour’s Dream Castle (Oisin Murphy) in the final half furlong of the 1,400 metre contest.
Zainhom, representing Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, finished third four lengths behind the Godolphin duo after being hampered at the start.
The Greenham acts as one of many trails for the English 2000 Guineas on May 5, a Classic that Godolphin won in 2013 with the Jim Bolger-trained Dawn Approach and prior to that by the Bin Surour-trained Island Sands in 1999.
Reacting to the Greenham, British bookmakers cut Barney Roy’s odds to 7/1 and Dream Castle to 16/1 behind the market leaders, Churchill (13/8) and Al Wukair (9/2).
Dream Castle, the mount of Oisin Murphy, was hoping to emulate his legendary sire Frankel by attempting to win the Greenham Stakes.
Bin Suroor’s colt, who comfortably won his maiden at Doncaster on April 2, was stepping up in class for the Guineas trial, a race that his sire Frankel won by seven lengths in 2011.
Earlier in the afternoon Shaikh Hamdan’s Muntahaa posted a neck victory over Chemical Charge in the Group 3 Dubai Duty Free Finest Surprise Stakes (Registered As The John Porter Stakes ) over 2,400m.
Fourth in the St Leger last season, Muntahaa had finished behind Chemical Charge on his return at Doncaster but champion jockey Jim Crowley rode a big race aboard the John Gosden-trained horse to prise out a narrow, but well-deserved victory.
Gosden was in red hot form having saddled six winners at the Craven meeting this week and a double at Newbury on Friday.
The Queen’s 91st birthday coincided with opening day of the Dubai Duty Free Spring Trials meeting on Friday as Her Majesty graced the occasion for the eighth successive year.
Shutter Speed, one of two Khalid Abdullah-owned John Gosden-trained fillies won the Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup EBF Stallions Conditions Stakes comfortably under Frankie Dettori.
The Dubai Duty Free Full of Surprises Stakes over seven furlongs went to 25-1 outsider Bacchus, the mount of William Buick taking time off from his Godolphin duties to ride for Brian Meehan.
Godolphin had struck in the first race for two-year-old newcomers, won by Gold Town and jockey William Buick .
“One slight tap was all I needed,” said Buick who was impressed by his charge
The Dubai Duty Free Class 2 Handicap brought a speedy conclusion to the first day’s sponsorship when Sir Robert Cheval took just sixty seconds to land the five furlong sprint.
Home-bred by a group of enthusiasts called Heart of the South Racing, Sir Robert Cheval was transferred to ‘Sprint King’ trainer Robert Cowell after failing to win for nearly two years and the move worked perfectly.
Dubai Duty Free’s Executive Vice Chairman & CEO, Colm McLoughlin and Salah Tahlak, Executive Vice President – Corporate Services, were on hand to present trophies to the delighted winning connections in each of the Dubai Duty Free-sponsored races.
Despite disappointment for The Queen, the meeting did produce one Royal winner when Mulhimatty battled gamely to carry the colours of Shaikh Hamdan to victory in a thrilling three-way photo-finish in the first division of the Coln Valley Stud Bridget Maiden Fillies’ Stakes, the penultimate race on the programme.
