As Godolphin stockpiled Group 1 wins on Dubai World Cup night, the pillar-to-post win of Hawkbill (Kitten's Joy) in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic was perhaps the most dramatic, both before the start and through much of the race.
Fractious before the off, Hawkbill appeared to get at least one of his forelegs over the front of the gate, upsetting Japanese contender Satono Crown (JPN) (Marju {Ire}) in the neighbouring stall. Both horses were removed from their respective berths, with Hawkbill having to be trotted up for the vet before he was allowed to participate.
It was quickly apparent that he has suffered no ill effects from his unruly behaviour as William Buick rousted him straight to head of affairs, lighting up the keen Cloth Of Stars (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the process. As Hawkbill hit the front his fellow Godolphin runner never settled and with little racing room was constantly snatched up by rider Mickael Barzalona who endured a nightmare passage but managed to stick to his task well enough to finish third.
The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Poet's Word (GB) (Poet's Voice {GB}) had an altogether smoother journey one off the rail and was able to retain the advantage of being up behind the leaders throughout to finish strongly in second, three lengths adrift, while race-favourite, the Japanese Derby winner Rey De Oro (JPN) (King Kamehameha {JPN}), also made late progress to claim fourth.
It may not have made for comfortable viewing but Hawkbill, bringing his Group 2 Super Saturday form into the race, provided Godolphin with a seventh win in the Sheema Classic and the second on the bounce for both Godolphin and William Buick after Jack Hobbs (GB) (Halling) last year.
“Physically he did well over the winter and we've always thought a lot of him,” Buick said of the 5-year-old. “His run on Super Saturday got his head straight and his body right. He relaxed well in front and was in a lovely rhythm. It was going to take a good one to get past him.”
Charlie Appleby started the day without a World Cup night win but ended it with two at each end of the distance spectrum, Hawkbill adding to the earlier G1 Al Quoz Sprint victory of Jungle Cat.
He said, “|William gave him a fantastic ride. I have to say I was a bit nervous during the stalls incident but full credit to the team down there, they checked him out and William has given him the usual peach or a ride. The horse deserved another Group 1. I always felt that he was a soft-ground specialist but he's proved himself to be very versatile now and I'm just delighted to have another winner. It's been a great evening.”
Appleby added that he had been considering visiting Hong Kong with Hawkbill at the end of May and that the trip was still a possibility.
Pedigree notes
Hawkbill, a $350,000 Keeneland yearling graduate and the first European Group 1 winner for his sire Kitten's Joy when winning the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, is the second foal of the graded-placed Trensa (Giant's Causeway). He was bred by Helen K Groves, who raced both Trensa and her Grade III-winning half-sister Batique (Storm Cat), as well as the mare's first foal Trensita (Curlin).
Hawkbill's younger sibling Free Drop Billy (Union Rags) won last season's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity and finished runner-up to Audible in the G2 Holy Bull S. in Feb., while Trensa's current 2-year-old, a colt by Curlin, fetched $800,000 at Keeneland last September. She also has a yearling colt by More Than Ready and returned to Kitten's Joy in 2017.
Saturday, Meydan, Middle East
LONGINES DUBAI SHEEMA CLASSIC-G1, $6,000,000 (£4,281,659/€4,868,442), MEY, 3-31, NH 4yo/up & SH3yo/up, 2400mT, 2:29.45, gd.
1–HAWKBILL, 126, h, 5, by Kitten's Joy
1st Dam: Trensa (GSP-US, $170,470), by Giant's Causeway
2nd Dam: Serape, by Fappiano
3rd Dam: Mochila, by In Reality
($350,000 Ylg '14 KEESEP). O-Godolphin; B-Helen K. Groves
Revocable Trust (KY); T-Charlie Appleby; J-William Buick.
$3,600,000. Lifetime Record: Hwt. 3yo-Eng at 9 1/2-11f,
G1SW-Eng, MG1SP-Ger, GISP-NA, 20-10-2-3, $4,597,545. *1/2
to Free Drop Billy (Union Rags), GISW-US, $525,220. Werk Nick
Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”gainesway-consigned-by”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″][bullet ad=”us-bred-ky-bred-keen-grad”]2–Poet's Word (Ire), 126, h, 5, Poet's Voice (GB)–Whirly Bird
(GB), by Nashwan. (300,000gns Ylg '14 TATOCT). O-Saeed
Suhail; B-Woodcote Stud Ltd (IRE); T-Sir Michael Stoute.
$1,200,000.
3–Cloth of Stars (Ire), 126, h, 5, Sea the Stars (Ire)–Strawberry
Fledge, by Kingmambo. (400,000gns Ylg '14 TAOOCT).
O-Godolphin SNC; B-Peter Anastasiou (IRE); T-Andre Fabre.
$600,000.
Margins: 3, NK, 1 3/4.
Also Ran: Rey De Oro (Jpn), Best Solution (Ire), Mozu Katchan (Jpn), Satono Crown (Jpn), Idaho (Ire), Desert Encounter (Ire), Khalidi (GB).
Click for the Racing Post chart, the Am Wager PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. DRC Video.
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