Godolphin picks cast for winter

Godolphin has brought leading British juvenile filly Carry on Katie and promising middle-distance horse Doyen on board for its 2004 season.

With the Dubai-based operation no longer running 2-year-olds under the Godolphin banner, there is always a great deal of speculation as to which juveniles will be plucked away from the other Maktoum stables to spend the winter in Dubai at Godolphin's Al Quoz headquarters. Ruler's Court and Tizdubai were obvious choices, and they will be joined in Saeed bin Suroor's yard by the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Carry on Katie (formerly trained by Jeremy Noseda) and Group 2 Rockfel Stakes winner Cairns (formerly with Mick Channon).

Doyen, who had been racing in Sheikh Mohammed's maroon and white colors for Andre Fabre, was a close second in the Prix Niel before finishing fourth in the Arc de Triomphe. At Al Quoz he will join Sulamani, the Arlington Million and Turf Classic winner, who will remain in training as a 5-year-old.

Also joining Godolphin is Refuse to Bend. The 2000 Guineas winner, he was bought by Sheikh Mohammed in the fall but leased back to Moyglare Stud, for which he finished 11th in the Breeders' Cup Mile. Already in Dubai, he will join Vespone, winner of the Grand Prix de Paris, as part of Godolphin's team of older horses.

Whipper wins at Maisons-Laffitte

Whipper's handy victory in the Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte on Friday has prompted trainer Robert Collet to name the 2000 Guineas as the colt's early season objective in 2004.

A son of Miesque's Son out of a Sadler's Wells mare, Whipper took command at the quarter pole in the six-furlong straight race, and ran on to a 2 1/2-length win over Chineur, with group race winners Mokabra and Villadolide back in fifth and sixth. Ridden Christophe Soumillon, Whipper was timed in 1:14.70.

Bred in Kentucky by Flaxman Holdings Ltd., Whipper had sold as a foal for just $4,000 before being purchased at the Deauville yearling sale by Robert C. Strauss for $71,411. On Aug. 31 he won the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville, then finished a fast-closing fifth in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes over the last six furlongs of the one-mile 2000 Guineas course at Newmarket. Collet said that Whipper would prep for the Guineas in the listed Prix Djebel at Maisons-Laffitte in early April.