Impressive show by Godolphin

In one of the busiest racing weekend's of the year, Godolphin contested in 16 races in seven cities and finished in the money in all but three of them.

Not a bad show by any stretch of the imagination. Despite the defeats suffered by Street Cry in the Whitney and Essence of Dubai in the Jim Dandy at the annual Saratoga meeting, and Equerry in the Grosser Dallmayr Preis, in Munich, Godolphin claimed two gratifying maiden wins and saw as many as six horses finish runner up.

Country Reel, a half-sister to top class French sprinter Anabaa, made a dream race course debut when winning the Hugo And The Huguenotes E.b.f. Maiden Stakes over six furlongs at Newmarket, on Friday.

This well-bred colt (by Danzig) made a highly-promising debut under Frankie Dettori. He is open for improvement and is pencilled in to contest the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes, won last year's by Rock of Gibraltar, at York on August 21.

Another Danzig offspring, Polish, gave Godolphin their other success of the weekend at Saratoga Springs, New York.

Trained by Saeed bin Suroor, Polish just failed to make a winning debut over six furlongs on dirt at Belmont Park on June 7 when he was bumped at the start, but soon recovered and led before halfway, being caught close to home by a nose.

Bin Suroor, who operates from Godolphin's summer base at Newmarket, travelled to Saratoga to oversee Dubai World Cup winner Street Cry's final preparations for the prestigious Whitney Handicap.

Street Cry went into the nine-furlong contest as the hot favourite, but was unable to cope with the pace the race was run in and could only finish second to the very tough winner Left Bank, who is now being seen as a leading contender for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Arlington later this year.

Street Cry, however, lost nothing in defeat and bin Suroor felt that he was not at his best on the day.

The Godolphin handler said: "He didn't seem to be the same horse, I could see he was struggling in the race. Watching the race on my binoculars I knew that he would not win. Something seemed to upset him, I'm not sure if it was the pace, which was super fast."

Street Cry, the highest-rated horse in the Whitney, was giving 5lb to the eventual winner and that may have tilted the scales in favour of his vanquisher when it came down to a battle.

Having run with merit in two of the American Triple Crown races Essence of Dubai was strongly fancied to win the Jim Dandy after being dropped back in class.

But the Godolphin challenger, who won both his starts in the UAE, one of them with a stunning last to first effort to win the UAE Derby on Dubai World Cup day, took third place behind Medaglia d'Oro in the nine-furlong race.

Essence Of Dubai finished sixth of 11 after being checked twice last time out in the Grade One Belmont Stakes over 12 furlongs on dirt at Belmont Park on June 8.

He was previously ninth of 18 to War Emblem in the Grade One Kentucky Derby over 10 furlongs on dirt at Churchill Downs on May 4. Bin Suroor felt that the Pulpit colt would be more effective over a longer trip.

Godolphin have in all sent out 129 horses and won 60 races in the UK, France, Singapore, Germany, Italy and the United States. Prize money has topped the $13 million mark.