Godolphin blue flying high in early 2021

Fresh off earning another Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding owner, the international Godolphin operation has started 2021 in strong fashion. Godolphin recorded three homebred graded stakes winners in the United States on Saturday alone, highlighted by Eclipse Award champion Essential Quality’s successful 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn. Mystic Guide gave the Godolphin blue a double at Oaklawn by winning the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap, and Antoinette captured the Grade 3 The Very One at Gulfstream.

Mystic Guide, a 4-year-old by Ghostzapper, came to hand in the second half of last year, winning the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga and finishing second in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. He won the Razorback by six lengths.

“Look, it’s so rewarding with a horse like this that we were really patient with as a 3-year-old,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “We spaced his races, gave him time to develop. It’s really paying off now. That’s the best part of it all. [Godolphin’s] Jimmy Bell and Dan Pride are just always allowing us to do the right thing for the horse. Now it’s paying dividends.”

Mystic Guide is the first stakes horse out of Godolphin’s five-time Grade 1 winner Music Note, herself a half-sister to French classic winner and U.S. Grade 1 winner Musical Chimes.

Godolphin’s other two victors on Saturday are similarly well-bred. Eclipse champion Essential Quality, winner of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is by leading sire Tapit and from the immediate family of Japanese Triple Crown winner Contrail and Eclipse champion Folklore. The versatile Antoinette is by in-house stallion Hard Spun and out of the globe-trotting Shuruq, a group stakes winner in Dubai and Turkey and group placed in England. She added the The Very One to multiple turf stakes victories, including last year’s Saratoga Oaks. She was runner-up in last year’s Grade 1 Belmont Oaks on turf, and third in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on dirt.

Godolphin is looking ahead to another big weekend. Undefeated Maxfield is expected to start as the highweight in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6.