Ghaiyyath-1st-G3-Dubai-Millennium-Stakes-Meydan-UAE-20-February-2020
By Breandán Ó hUallacháin
Godolphin’s Irish-bred Ghaiyyath has been announced as Cartier Older Horse of the Year and the overall Cartier Horse Of The Year for 2020.
European horseracing’s top awards are delivered through a combination of points earned by horses in Pattern races (30%), combined at the end of season with the opinions of a panel of racing journalists/handicappers (35%) and votes from readers of Racing Post and The Daily Telegraph (35%).
The Dermot Weld-bred front runner Ghaiyyath showed his dominance this year with three Group 1 successes. His wins at the highest level in England this summer began with the Hurworth Bloodstock Coronation Cup at Newmarket, followed by the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, before taking the Juddmonte International at York.
The five-year-old out of the Galileo mare, Nightime, the 2006 Irish 1,000 Guineas winner, was trained by Godolphin’s retained handler Charlie Appleby and ridden by their stable jockey William Buick.
Buick, who partnered Ghaiyyath throughout 2020, commented:
“It is amazing for Ghaiyyath to win the Cartier Horse of the Year. He really deserves it and is an amazing horse to ride. I feel very privileged to have ridden a horse of his calibre. As a racehorse, he really did have everything. I have never ridden a horse with so much pace that can sustain it over the trips he ran over. He wore his heart on his sleeve and, as exciting as he looked, he was just as exciting to ride. He was an amazing horse.”
Ghaiyyath was purchased as a foal for €1.1 million at Goffs in November, 2015, with John Ferguson, acting on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed, securing him. He was sent to trainer Charlie Appleby in Newmarket, England, and made his first racecourse appearance in a maiden at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting in 2017, finishing a promising third.
Later that month, he was a five length winner of a maiden at Newmarket, before his final two-year-old start saw him win the one mile Group 3 Masar Godolphin Autumn Stakes at Newmarket in October 2017.
A training setback meant the son of Dubawi was off the racecourse for 343 days before his winning reappearance in the 10-furlong Group 3 Prix du Prince d’Orange at ParisLongchamp, France, in his only race as a three-year-old.
Ghaiyyath began his four-year-old career with a comfortable win in the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt at Paris Longchamp, making all the running to score a very comfortable length and three-quarter success.
He stepped up to Group 1 level when finishing a credible third to subsequent Qatar Prix de l’Arc Triomphe winner Waldgeist in the Prix Ganay at ParisLongchamp. In September 2019, his trainer Charlie Appleby stepped Ghaiyyath up to a mile and half for the Group 1 147th Longines Grosser Preis von Baden at Baden-Baden, Germany. The bay horse took up the running after three furlongs and coasted to a 14-length success. In October of that year, he was a well-beaten 10th behind Waldgeist on unfavorable soft ground in the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Europe’s middle-distance championship, at Paris Longchamp.
This year, Ghaiyyath began his hugely successful campaign with a victory in the Group 3 Dubai Millennium Stakes at Meydan, UAE.
The Group 1 Hurworth Bloodstock Coronation Cup, run at Newmarket this year, saw Ghaiyyath make all the running, going clear of the field after the first half mile, before winning in a track record time. At the finish, he had two and a half lengths to spare over 2019 Investec Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck with Ascot Gold winner Stradivarius another two and a half lengths away in third.
He defeated the super mare Enable in the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown next time out as he achieved another amazing all-the-way win. At the line he had two and a quarter lengths to spare over the John Gosden-trained Enable.
He remained at a mile and a quarter in the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York, beating a field that included multiple Group 1-winning mare Magical, impressive Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner Lord North and Kameko, winner of the Group 1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas. It was another all the way success for Ghaiyyath as he produced what was arguably his impressive victory, easing down to defeat Magical by three lengths.
His final outing came in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on day one of Longines Irish Champions Weekend in mid-September. The Aidan O’Brien-trained Magical reversed the York placings this time, coming out with a three-quarter of a length victory, in what turned out to be Ghaiyyath final racecourse appearance.
Life has come full circle for the 2020 Cartier Horse Of The Year as he will stand at Darley’s Kildangan Stud in County Kildare, Ireland, just a few miles from where he was born five years ago.
Paying tribute to Ghaiyyath, trainer Charlie Appleby said:
“Ghaiyyath has had a fantastic career, winning nine of his 13 races. His high-class cruising speed and relentless style of galloping was a joy to watch and as I have said before, this year he came together both physically and mentally and looked the finished article”
