Dubai: Twelve months after a foot injury denied him a shot at the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes, Mukhadram gets a second chance to stamp his class on the York showpiece, the opening day’s highlight of the highly anticipated Ebor Festival on Wednesday.
The William Haggas-trained son of Shamardal faces five top rivals including dual Derby winner Australia and the highly regarded Telescope in the 2,000-metre contest which carries a purse of £750,000 (Dh4.5 million).
Mukhadram is owned by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance who is looking for his second success in York’s richest race of the season after Nayef triumphed in 2002.
An impressive winner of the Group 1 Coral Eclipse Stakes, Mukhadram will be reunited with Shaikh Hamdan’s retained rider Paul Hanagan, who returns to action following a fall at Glorious Goodwood. The dual champion jockey suffered a hairline fracture on his left arm when his mount White Nile stumbled and fell on the opening day of the meeting.
At five, Mukhadram is the oldest horse in the race, the winner of which will receive an invitation to the $3 million (Dh11 million) Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) at Santa Anita, California on November 1. He has had four starts this year and was last seen finishing third to Shaikh Hamdan’s star filly Taghrooda in the King George (G1) over 2,400 metres, a distance which was conceivably a trifle beyond his compass.
A return to his favoured mile and two trip can result in Mukhadram toppling Australia (4/6) and Telescope (4/1) to give Haggas a first Juddmonte trophy and second Group 1 victory of the season.
However, he will have to be at the top of his game as his four rivals, bar Australia’s pacemaker Kingfisher, have serious claims.
The Kevin Ryan-trained French Derby winner The Grey Gatsby returns to a course where he won the Group 2 Dante Stakes earlier in the year, while Peter Chapple-Hyam’s Arod who was three quarter length back in second on that occasion, has delivered some heartening performances most notably when winning a conditions event at Leicester by nine lengths.
Sir Michael Stoute has a daunting record in the race with five wins and Telescope can add to his previous successes by Shardari (1986), Ezzoud (1993, 1994), Singspiel (1997) and Notnowcato (2006).
The Juddmonte has thrown up several famous winners over the years, and perhaps none more illustrious than Sea the Stars who won in 2009 and the great Frankel who claimed the prize in 2012.
