Ghaiyyath imposing against tough foes in Juddmonte International

From Germany to Dubai to England, 5-year-old Ghaiyyath has developed into an international star over the last year, and on Wednesday at York he will be favored to win his third straight Group 1 in the Juddmonte International.

Ghaiyyath is favored over a small, select group, his chief challengers among five other entrants Kameko, Lord North, and Magical. William Buick has the mount for trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin in this 1 5/16-mile contest around York’s expansive, relatively flat left-handed course. The International is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race, offering automatic fees-paid entry into the BC Classic on dirt, and travel expenses to Keeneland. It’s not an outlandish thought to imagine Ghaiyyath, by the excellent and versatile stallion Dubawi, taking his chance in the Classic, though the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe surely tops his connections’ autumn wish list.

No telling how high Ghaiyyath can go since he is a less exposed horse than his age suggests. Ghaiyyath, out of the Galileo mare Nightime, raced three times at 2, just once at age 3, and four times as a 4-year-old. Until this season, he was capable of producing a single top-level performance but struggled to hold his form, but after winning a prep race for the $6 million Sheema Classic – a race never run because of COVID-19 – Ghaiyyath hit a career peak capturing the Group 1 Coronation Cup over 1 1/2 miles at Newmarket before turning away the great Enable on the way to a dominant victory July 5 in the 1 1/4-mile Eclipse Stakes.

Enable raced ring-rusty and above true fighting weight in the Eclipse, and the Coronation runner-up, Anthony Van Dyke, has his limitations, so Wednesday’s test figures to be Ghaiyyath’s sternest since he finished 10th over soft ground he despises in the 2019 Arc. Ghaiyyath, who likes to lead, is likely to get his preferred good going Wednesday, but he cannot afford a step back from his established seasonal form.

Three-year-old Kameko, who gets seven pounds from the older males like Ghaiyyath, was a general 7-2 second choice with English bookmakers as of Monday afternoon, and he could come up a longer price than that on the American tote board. Kameko won the English 2000 Guineas to start his campaign, finished a respectable fourth in the Derby, won in a romp by front-running Serpentine, and lost all chance to a tough trip when cut back to one mile last out in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes. There, Kameko appeared to be full of run while locked into a box along the fence, and when he finally escaped the initial trap in the final furlong, his path was entirely blocked by the three horses that beat him.

Outside the 2019 Arc, where she was fifth, Magical in her last dozen races, 10 of them Group 1’s, either has won or finished second to Enable or Crystal Ocean. She should be a fresh horse coming into Wednesday’s start with easy wins against overmatched competition in the Pretty Polly Stakes and the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

Lord North, a 4-year-old Dubawi gelding trained by John Gosden, was a handicapper during his 2019 campaign and didn’t start in a group stakes until his most recent outing, the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s at Royal Ascot. Lord North aced that test, winning by more than three lengths, but while he beat a capable field, the International, led by Ghaiyyath, is a better one.

Post time for this must-see race is 10:15 a.m. Eastern. You can watch and wager at DRFBets.com.