By Chris McGrath
For the home team, the spectre at the feast will be Justify (Scat Daddy). But let's not forget that the European raiders at the 35th Breeders' Cup have also–albeit temporarily–lost the services of their premier Classic winner.
For the stylish Epsom success of Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) represented spectacular vindication of an appointment that had come literally “out of the blue”-the royal blue, that is, his trainer Charlie Appleby having been promoted as an in-house solution to an excruciating crisis at Godolphin.
To many, the Mahmood Al Zarooni steroids scandal of 2013 required Sheikh Mohammed to go out and hire a firefighter of established calibre. As such, it seemed nearly perverse for him instead to promote an unproven assistant educated entirely within the stable.
For Appleby to need just five years to satisfy the Sheikh's craving for a homebred Derby winner in Godolphin blue definitively confirmed the wisdom of that judgement. Among just three Breeders' Cup starters for his trainer to date, moreover, Masar is the only one to have been beaten (when finishing strongly out of traffic at Del Mar last year).
This weekend Appleby brings three candidates to emulate the success of Wuheida (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who won the Filly & Mare Turf last year; and Outstrip (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), whose Juvenile Turf success at Santa Anita, just months after Appleby's abrupt elevation, he will always cherish nearly as much as Masar's Derby.
“It's my first year, he's won the [G2] Champagne S., so all of a sudden you have this good 2-year-old,” Appleby recalled at Churchill yesterday. “And it's amazing how different things suddenly look when you actually have the reins. On the outside, even when you're one of the assistants or the head lad, it's easy: the horse can do this, he can do that. But, my fault, I wrapped him up in cotton wool before the [G1] Dewhurst and he finished third, too fresh.”
“So I spoke to HH Sheikh Mohammed and asked if I could take him to the Breeders' Cup. I felt he'd be suited by quick ground and the tight turns. And I made sure I trained him for the moment. I asked Mike [Smith] to get him out and get him rolling. Instead he was slow from the gate and Mike was sat about three off the back. At that point, when it's your only shot, you think you might as well turn on your heels and go home. But they call him 'Big Money Mike' for a reason. He knows where the lollipop is, and they were going a scorching pace. So when they came down to the wire and he hit the front, it was one of those moments when you just stand back; obviously that backdrop at Santa Anita is so amazing anyway, it all felt so surreal. Because it was my first chance to say thank you, the one way I had of repaying somebody who obviously wants for nothing.”
To tell that story against himself is instructive not so much of an assurance Appleby has now amply earned, but of an authentic humility. Even in accepting that this has been a breakout year, in terms of external perceptions, he scrupulously refers sooner to the reputation and self-belief of his whole team than to his own.
“It's the same as any sport,” he says. “You gain so much confidence when you're winning, and the momentum keeps rolling on. If you're a football manager, looking after a team, and you take them to the top of the league you're doing what the owners employ you to do. And that's me, basically: I manage my team at Moulton Paddocks and over the last three years I feel the momentum's been picking up and up, we've been focusing on nicer horses and campaigning them the way we feel is right. And this year it's just gone from strength to strength: the Derby was a huge achievement by the team, and most importantly it's what HH Sheikh Mohammed deserves. I'm just very fortunate to be in a position to deliver the goods.”
That freedom from self-importance allows Appleby to reflect candidly on how his appointment must have struck the world outside the besieged walls of Godolphin. “When I took over the position, a lot of people were going to be asking questions, for sure: about myself, about the team,” he said. “People could say why didn't they go and get somebody who'd been out there and done it, somebody with more experience. But we felt no pressure. Remember this is my 20th year with Godolphin. And from the day before I was asked to take on responsibility at Moulton Paddocks, to the day after, it felt no different: I just went in there and got on with the job. I knew the staff. I felt I knew the nuts and bolts of it all. And, most importantly, I knew what HH Sheikh Mohammed wants and what his drive is. And that's definitely instilled into myself and the team: that positivity.”
“Obviously I've changed things as time has gone on, to suit myself and the team. Outstrip was a huge help. We'd only done it once, but we had done it and you just get a feel for it all. As time has gone on, we've got confidence in ourselves; we've got our strategy, our key players in place and they are doing a great job. And I think that's why we are where we are.”
“Because we're working for a man who instils confidence in you. If you make a decision, he backs you. And you're like a kid riding a bike: if you fall off, you don't just throw the bike on the floor and walk away. Sometimes in racing you make a call that doesn't come off, but there's no better man to say: 'Don't worry, get back on the bike and have another go.'”
Funnily enough, Appleby views Masar himself as a perfect model for the merits of dusting yourself down and climbing back into the ring.
“Obviously we had to put a line through what happened at Del Mar,” he says. “But most importantly, as a couple of old shrewdies said at the time, he was getting a lot of experience. Same when he flopped round the back on the dirt at Meydan in March. It was a win-win. If he had happened to adapt, he'd have ended up going to the UAE Derby and then potentially come over here. When he didn't, some people said it was a waste of time–but it wasn't. I wanted to get a run into him, because he was getting a bit too much of a boy out there and we wanted to put some manners on him. But the experience, again, put him in good stead.”
He mischievously notes that he has enjoyed Roaring Lion's service on Masar's behalf, on the basis that they had met three times and Masar had beaten him three times.
“It's sport, things move on, and Masar is sort of a forgotten horse now–but I haven't forgotten him,” Appleby said. “The great thing is that he's doing well and the plan is for him to race next season. He'll go to Dubai but not to run out there. If you were fortunate enough to map out a programme, you'd work back from the Arc.”
Besides his sense of a personal debt discharged, Appleby relished the way the whole professional community appeared to savour Masar's success at Epsom for a man who has invested so much into their industry. And, in the bigger picture, he also recognises how that industry can appreciate a broader revival in Godophin's fortunes.
“The old days are back,” he acknowledged. “We're competitive at the top end, and everybody wants to see Coolmore-Ballydoyle and Godolphin. Again, it's like any sport: if results are constantly going one way, it's great for those who are winning but for the public it probably becomes a bit boring.”
Even as his team has renewed its standards, moreover, the Sheikh's rapprochement with his longstanding antagonists in the bloodstock market has introduced Appleby to exciting new professional opportunity.
“I did say, tongue-in-cheek, what did I have to do to get one of these Galileos!?” he chuckled. “I've never dealt with one before this year, so it's quite ironic that we're turning up here at a championship meeting with one I feel will be very competitive.”
That is G3 Prix de la Conde winner Line Of Duty (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Juvenile Turf.
“Obviously in my position I'm very lucky to have had a lot of Dubawis, and you can see why he and Galileo are the supersires they are,” Appleby says. “Their traits are actually very similar: they thrive on competition, and they love to train. In my experience, when a Dubawi (Ire) (Dubai Millennium {GB}) is in a dogfight, they very seldom lie down. And my one Galileo at the moment is showing exactly the same signs. If he's boxed in, it might not be pretty to watch–but I'm confident that if there's a hole, he'll want to go through it.”
Wild Illusion (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) issues from the more familiar conveyor belt, and heavy rain in Louisville did nothing to diminish her trainer's optimism for the Filly & Mare Turf.
“She's a Group 1 winner in soft ground,” he noted. “And she's in great form. She literally kept Will [Buick] on his toes this morning: he came off before we set off in our little breeze. Her coat's like a seal, and as a big strong filly she won't be easy to push over when it comes to the hustle and bustle.”
His other runner is La Pelosa (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) in the Fillies' Juvenile Turf tomorrow: a battle-hardened filly who won the GI Natalma S. at Woodbine last time. “She brings nice experience to the race,” Appleby said. “She showed that this morning, of the three she was the most professional. She too has a nice draw and she's a filly we've always felt would appreciate cut in the ground. Strictly on their European form, both the 2-year-olds have a bit to find. But both are neat and athletic and I do think experience is a big help round these tracks.”
Appleby admits that there was a concerted effort, in his third year, to get runs on the board–just to show that the team was functioning efficiently. It is significant, then, that he amassed almost exactly the same domestic prizemoney in 2017 as he did in 2015, but from 106 winners as opposed to 151; and that Masar, G1 King's Stand winner Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) and company have this year increased the haul by over 75% from “just” 82 wins. That tells you how confidently Appleby is now prepared to focus on the tougher bull's-eyes.
“We all go through those stages, whether through your career or your season, when things aren't going right,” he says. “That's when you sometimes question your decision, after the event. But when things are going right you're relaxed, you stand back, you see things a lot more clearly and with a lot more positivity. I think we have started to focus on trying to produce the better horses on those championship days. It's only my fifth year and I'd like to think we've ticked a lot of boxes in a short space of time.”
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