3 minute read
Son of Dubawi leads all the way to win his second Group 1
The Charlie Appleby-trained Ghaiyyath (5 h ex Dubawi - Nightime by Galileo) added a second Group 1 to his record as he produced a brave front-running performance to win the Coronation Stakes (Gr 1, 1m4f) at Newmarket on Friday.
Last seen landing the Dubai Millennium Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) at Meydan in February, the five-year-old entire lead the whole way and stayed on powerfully to repel the late challenge of last year’s Derby (Gr 1, 1m4f) winner Anthony Van Dyck (Galileo), eventually beating him by two and a half lengths.
Multiple Group 1 winner Stradivarius (Sea The Stars) ran an encouraging race on his reappearance over a mile and a half to finish a further two and a half lengths back in third and set up a hat-trick bid in the Ascot Gold Cup (Gr 1, 2m) at Royal Ascot on June 18.
The win handed the entire with his first domestic Group 1, having landed his first in Germany when he took out the Grosser Preis von Baden (Gr 1, 2400m) and Appleby couldn’t hide his delight after his second Group 1 victory on Friday.
“We’ve seen him at his best on a few occasions now and after the first half a mile, I fully respected the field in behind with Classic winners and multiple Group 1 winners in there, but could see William [Buick, jockey] was in that rhythm and I was pretty confident he could maintain that to the line,” said Appleby.
“I’ve always felt that we’re dealing with the finished article this year and I’m hopeful his post-race condition will be stronger than it has been when he was four. If that's the case then we might be able to back him up a bit quicker than we have done in previous years.”
The colt is out of 2006 Irish 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) winner Nightime (Galileo), making him a half-brother to 2017 Man O' War Stakes (Gr 1, 11f) winner Zhukova (Fastnet Rock) and three other winners.
Nightime herself is a half-sister to Mermaid Island (Mujadil) - the dam of South Australian Listed scorer Ondina (Manhattan Rain), while her sister Phaenomena produced last week’s Meguro Kinen (Gr 2, 2500m) winner King Of Koji (Lord Kanaloa).
The colt is bred on the same cross as fellow Group 1 winner and now successful sire Night Of Thunder, who shuttled to Australia for one season.
Dubawi is the sire of 41 top-flight winners, including Swettenham Stud resident Akeed Mofeed and brilliant two-year-old Too Darn Hot, who will stand his first season at Darley’s Hunter Valley farm for a fee of $44,000 (inc GST) in 2020.
