Breeders' Cup: Appleby and Godolphin's U.S. experiment pays off handsomely
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DEL MAR, Calif. – Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby’s foray into extended American racing during 2024 turned out, as you might expect, pretty damned good.
Appleby, based in England much of the year and in Dubai during the winter, ran an American string beginning in April at Keeneland. The horses then moved onto New York, with those still in the country reassembling at Keeneland, several for a trip to Del Mar for Breeders’ Cup races.
So far this year, pending the Breeders’ Cup, where he sports an unbelievable record of success, Appleby has gone 13-12-11 from 48 American runners. All 48 horses ran in stakes races, 45 of them graded, and Appleby’s 13 graded wins through Oct. 31 tied him with Steve Asmussen for sixth among North American trainers.
Appleby termed the experiment a success and said plans called for a similar approach during 2025.
“I’m pleased with it for sure. We’ve learned more for it for sure, and it opened our eyes up to a few more races as well, because when you’re here, you look at the pattern [condition] book on a weekly basis rather than working back from sending one horse over for a certain race,” he said.
The American-bound horses come from Dubai, and what transpires next year will take shape after assessing what happens over the winter in the United Arab Emirates.
“It just depends on how horses develop during the winter in Dubai. A few of those kind of horses are coming to an age where retirement is calling,” Appleby said.
One such horse – one Appleby hoped would be here at Del Mar this week – is Master of The Seas, a scintillating winner of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Mile. Master of The Seas, a gelding, launched his 6-year-old campaign winning the Maker’s Mark Mile in April at Keeneland, but his training stalled over the summer at Saratoga, his last published workout in July.
“He’s up at Keeneland. We thought we could try to prep him again for [the Breeders’ Cup] and he wasn’t showing us the Master of The Seas we’ve seen in the past, so he’s going back to the U.K. with the Breeders’ Cup team, and a decision will be made in a couple, three weeks, whether he stays in training, or we decide to retire him,” Appleby said.
Appleby still has the likely BC Mile favorite in Notable Speech. And you can be certain he’ll send some serious horses to America again in 2025.
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