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Despite masssive annual investment, time and time again the Dubai Arab Sheikhs and their loss making flagship Godolphin operation are playing catch up to the significantly smaller, profit making Ballydoyle band wagon.
No where was this more evident than at Newmarket a month ago when following Camelot's brilliant 2000 Guineas victory, Aidan O'Brien's Homecoming Queen performed a demolition job in the fillies equivalent with the two fancied Godolphin representatives finishing last and second last.
With three out of the four Anglo Irish classics safely in the bag, we move on to Epsom for tomorrows Oaks where O'Brien has six contenders to Godolphins one however,much more defining is The Derby where the British Turf's main event and the most important race in the stud book does not have a single representative wearing those Blue silks and yet once again Ballydoyle are mob handed with five declared runners.
The Godolphin operation must be hanging their heads in shame.
No where was this more evident than at Newmarket a month ago when following Camelot's brilliant 2000 Guineas victory, Aidan O'Brien's Homecoming Queen performed a demolition job in the fillies equivalent with the two fancied Godolphin representatives finishing last and second last.
With three out of the four Anglo Irish classics safely in the bag, we move on to Epsom for tomorrows Oaks where O'Brien has six contenders to Godolphins one however,much more defining is The Derby where the British Turf's main event and the most important race in the stud book does not have a single representative wearing those Blue silks and yet once again Ballydoyle are mob handed with five declared runners.
The Godolphin operation must be hanging their heads in shame.
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Replies: 77
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Kailani wins the Oaks tho....
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I think the Dubai investment is paying off? He is in control of racing in the uk is he not?
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Are the horses trained over here in winter or in UAE as the weather would then be the main factor as it was very soft at new market and if horses are trained on fast going all the time they will be at a major disadvantage and horses trained in the wettest country in Europe(Eire)
will be blessed running in a race thats the second wettest in Europe. |
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The Godolphin operation has been lucky for me but its fair to say some aspects could do better and perhaps its more a obsession for the sheik than carefully thought out.
However it beats betting on stables that like to bet on their own to lose so long may they thrive. |
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Darleys staff getting layed off.... Rumours that they are bringing in another new trainer to take over one of the Hamilton Road yards.... Things can only get worse....
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surprised to see Bin Suroor won Oaks as long ago as 1995...nearly 20 yrs he's been on the scene...jeez.
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So yet another one in the eye for the Sheikh as Ballydoyle operation go 3/3 in English classics 2012.
No better than evens to finish the season 5/5 I feel, with Godolphin not even getting one in the frame. What a pathetic effort with their huge expenditure, 300 in training in Newmarket plus feeder trainers in John Gosden, Mark Johnson plus Monsieurs Fabre and Pantall in France. |
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Yes but he's always got the Princess to home to...............
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If you retain the best big race jockey on the planet, and leave him on the sidelines when you have a runner in a big race, you probably deserve all you get, imo...
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Wait for them listed races @ Nottingham in the Autumn they have 1 or 2 previous group performers ready to mop up!
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Go *
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indeed - if I bought a woman all those fab horses I know I'd look forward to going home too
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even though they seem to barely have a winner, I like them. If only for the fact that, as someone said above, you know 100% that they aren't sending horses out to do less than their best
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He needs a Jose Mourinho type trainer to drag him from the gutter.
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surely they could poach one of o'briens assistants or something.
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sounds just the job for JN
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http://jeremynoseda.com/
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I have a feeling that their early success was a result of adopting 'modern' training techniques much earlier than the competition, and chucking lots of money at it. We've reached a threshold at which the diminishing returns per pound spent have got ridiculous.
I simply don't think that shipping horses to the middle east is working either. Too much messing with their circadian rhythms. Shipping them anywhere ain't exactly ideal, but disrupting things to the extent that you expect them to spend 4 months in Dubai and swing straight back into the British spring is entirely unrealistic. |
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Must be disapointing waking up beside the princess and saying darling were down to our last 50billion
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Surely the problem is the fact that the whole operation is being run at the absolute whim of someone who knows virtually nothing about training racehorses.
Unfortunately for Godolphin, in an industry where back-slapping and sycophancy are usually the passport to success, there's no one who will ever point out that the Emperor is not actually wearing any clothes... |
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Do they buy horses by coolmore stallions ?
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Racing has made Magnier a billionaire ,the sheiks have spent the same.Plenty of people have made fortunes of them thats why no one questions them the cash cows of cash cows.
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not buying horses bred by coolmore stallions has cost them dear imho. sheik mo has never got over losing dubai millenium
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lets face it, they have lost the war against an operation that has considerably less money but whose knowledge of the horse is far greater.An operation that had a plan from day one and knew what they wanted to achieve.I have nothing but admiration for their set up and professionalism and every day that goes by the Makhtoums fall further behind.My only criticism - Ballydoyle need to appoint an excellent PR man or woman.
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agreed, arabs too loyal to hangers on and under achievers
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loyal to hangers on and underachievers agreed, and boots sir henry into touch, what an almighty mistake.
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yeah good point elis-all those great horses sir henry trained for him and the position he now finds himself in.More money than sense.
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i forgot that elisjohn,agreed another almighty mistake. khalid abdullah kept the faith
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That ex wife and her mouth cost Henry big time.
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should have seen the bigger picture
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cost henry big time, yes at the time but as i mentioned before sir henry lost the long battle, but he seems to have won the war in the end ,
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True elis he was down but never out
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suppose silly question, but what happened to charles st george and lord de walden horses etc, was there no one to take over when they passed away , assuming both have died.
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Ithink the walden horses and stud were sold off after he died.The St georges are still around not as big as before you know those horses starting with bahamian in the name Dandy Nicholls trains a few Bahamian Bounty one of the better ones a few years back.Chales St George died well over 10 years ago.
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why does he only only have two wifes thought he would be allowed 4 ?
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jeers jasrich, loved the lord howard colours, one of my biggest wins was shavian at r ascot ,
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saw him at sandown, sm, looked really sad. whats the point of it all..aint money
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As i remember it Sheik Mo got fed up with his trainers telling him how his horses should be campaigned,so he took his ball away.Created Godolphin and had a lot of early success.What has gone wrong,who knows.
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I wouldn't bet against them coming back in a big way though.
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