Dubai: Godolphin are in the running for three prestigious annual Cartier Racing Awards following a vintage UK summer season which has seen them amass major victories at Royal Ascot and more recently Newmarket.
An impressive Group 1 victory by Harry Angel in the Darley July Cup together with an outstanding run in defeat from Barney Roy in the Eclipse Stales, has seen the Dubai-owned stable stake a claim for Cartier Sprtiner and Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt Awards which will be decided in November this year.
Having captured Newmarket’s prestigious July Cup, a race that is regarded as the defining sprint contest in Europe, Harry Angel leapt to the top of the standings with 68 points.
The son of Dark Angel, who is trained by Clive Cox, beat a high-quality field that included top older sprinters Tasleet (32), The Tin Man (32) and Limato (24) as well as highly-regard fellow three-year-old Caravaggio (40), who has earlier beaten him in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.
The Group 1 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park on July 8 provided the first opportunity for the top middle distance three-year-olds to take on older opposition and this year’s race produced a scintillating battle of the generations, with four-year-old Ulysses beating his younger rival Barney Roy by a nose.
However, Barney Roy, successful in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, currently comfortably leads the race for the Colt’s division with a whopping 104 points. Ireland’s dual Guineas winner Churchill is on 80 points and Godolphin’s Thunder Snow on 78.
A lot can happen when racing takes in the Group 1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 29 followed by the Glorious Goodwood Festival, which runs between August 1 and 5.
The Group 1 £1-million Sussex Stakes, run over a mile at Goodwood on August 2, is the target for both the leading Cartier Older Horse, Godolphin’s Ribchester (86), and Churchill (80).
Harry Herbert, Cartier’s Racing Consultant, commented: “Winter and Enable are two seriously talented three-year-old fillies and it will be fascinating to see how they get on in the second half of the 2017 Flat season.
“Following the recent retirement of last year’s Cartier Horse Of The Year, Minding, through injury, the way is clear for either Winter or Enable to step up and take over her mantle.”
Winter (116) continues to head both the Cartier Horse Of The Year and Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly standings on Pattern race points following an outstanding first half of the season. The Galileo filly, trained by Aidan O’Brien for a Coolmore partnership, has gained decisive Group 1 victories in the 1000 Guineas, the Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Coronation Stakes, all at a mile, and is on target for the 10-furong Group 1 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.
Roly Poly (64), also trained by O’Brien for Coolmore, was runner-up in both the 1000 Guineas and the Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas, and the War Front filly advertised the form of those races when winning the Group 1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at last week’s Newmarket July Festival on July 14.
The Cartier Racing Awards were established in 1991 to reward excellence in horse racing. There are eight equine awards, ranging from the Cartier Horse Of The Year to the Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt and Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly.
