Royal Ascot: Godolphin repeats as leading owner thanks to Dubawi

Dubawi, Europe’s leading sire, recorded five winners at last week’s Royal Ascot meeting to help power Godolphin to the leading owner title for the second year in a row.

Dubawi, a 20-year-old Dubai Millennium horse who stands for Godolphin at Dalham Hall Stud in England, sired more winners than any other stallion during the five-day meeting, from June 14-18. His performers were led by Group 1 St James’s Palace winner Coroebus and Group 1 Platinum Jubilee winner Naval Crown. He also sired Group 2 Queen’s Vase winner Elder Eldarov, King George V winner Secret State, and Wolferton winner Dubai Future.

Elder Eldarov is owned by KHK Racing. Godolphin owns the other four plus Noble Truth, a son of Kingman who took down the Group 3 Jersey Stakes.

Dubawi had an additional influence on the royal meeting as his son New Bay, who stands at Ballylinch Stud in Ireland, sired a pair of winners in Group 2 Duke of Cambridge winner Saffron Beach and Group 3 Hampton Cup winner Claymore.

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“I am delighted to have received the leading owner trophy on behalf of Godolphin and our principal, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed,” Hugh Anderson, Godolphin’s managing director in the UK and Dubai, said in a statement. “It has been a fantastic week for our whole team, from Godolphin Stables to Moulton Paddocks, and our breeding operation and stallions. Winning this trophy is testament to the hard work of the entire team, all of whom deserve congratulation.”

Godolphin is the reigning Eclipse Award winner as both owner and breeder in North America, with Dubawi helping along the way by keying a historic weekend for the outfit at the Breeders’ Cup. The stallion became the first sire to have three offspring win Breeders’ Cup races in a single year, represented last November at Del Mar by Juvenile Turf winner Modern Games, Mile winner Space Blues, and Turf winner Yibir, who earned the division’s Eclipse. All three race as homebreds for Godolphin, making the operation the first owner and breeder to win three races in a single Breeders’ Cup event.

Joining Dubawi and New Bay with multiple individual winners at this year’s Royal Ascot meeting were the late Galileo (Coolmore) and Kingman (Juddmonte) with three each; and Dark Angel (Yeomanstown Stud), No Nay Never (Coolmore), and Starspangledbanner (Coolmore) with two each.

Quality Road has Ascot winner

Quality Road is leading the North American general sire list, in large part thanks to Emblem Road, winner of the world’s richest race, the $20 million Saudi Cup. But the Lane’s End Farm resident is far from a one-hit wonder. The versatile sire, whose progeny excel on both dirt and turf, continued to succeed internationally as the only U.S.-based stallion to sire a winner at Royal Ascot this year, with Missed the Cut taking the Golden Gates Stakes on closing day.

This was the second career Royal Ascot winner for Quality Road, a 16-year-old son of Elusive Quality. Hootenanny, from his first crop, won the 2014 Windsor Castle.

Along with Emblem Road – who accounts for more than $10.1 million of his sire’s $16,131,898 in earnings through June 19 – and Missed the Cut, Quality Road is the sire of six stakes winners in the U.S. so far this season, on all three surfaces and around both one and two turns. His runners are led by Bleecker Street, who remained unbeaten in seven career starts while winning the Grade 1 New York Stakes on the Belmont Park turf earlier this month.

Quality Road is also the sire of Friar’s Road winner of the Grade 2 San Marcos; the 3-year-olds Ethereal Road, winner of the Sir Barton, and Blackadder, winner of the El Camino Real Derby; Grade 3-placed stakes winner Park Avenue; and stakes winner Alydiva.

Big week for Galileo and family

In one of the most anticipated races of the Royal Ascot meeting, Kyprios cemented his status as a top-class stayer by winning the Group 1 Gold Cup, with Mojo Star second and the great Stradivarius a rallying third.

Kyprios became the 95th Grade 1/Group 1 winner for the late Galileo, extending the leading sire’s world record for top-level victors. But the race also served to highlight the legacy of Galieo’s dam, the late Broodmare of the Year Urban Sea, as Galileo’s half-brother, Sea The Stars, is the sire of both Mojo Star and Stradivarius. Both of those stallions – as well as Galileo’s several successful sons at stud – made an impact.

Urban Sea, a 1989 Miswaki mare, scored her greatest win in the 1993 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe; earlier that year, she had been second by a neck in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. As a broodmare, Urban Sea, who died in 2009, produced eight winners from nine starters. Those are led by 2009 European Horse of the Year Sea The Stars, who counted the Epsom Derby and Arc de Triomphe among his six Group 1 victories while winning eight of nine starts, overall; and European champion 3-year-old Galileo, who won the Epsom and Irish Derbies.

Sea The Stars also produced Grade 1/Group 1 winners Black Sam Bellamy and My Typhoon; Group 3 winners All Too Beautiful and Urban Ocean; and stakes winners Born To Sea and Melikah, both Irish classic-placed. Her lone non-winner, Cherry Hinton, was Group 3 placed.

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Galileo, who died last July at age 23, will go down as Urban Sea’s most profound impact on the breed. The Coolmore stallion sired three winners himself during the Royal Ascot meet, with Kyprios joined by Group 2 Ribblesdale winner Magical Lagoon and Group 2 King Edward VII winner Changingoftheguard. He is also the broodmare sire of Queen Alexandra winner Stratum.

Galileo’s sons have been building a legacy for their sire, and were well-represented themselves at Royal Ascot. Unbeaten champion Frankel is the sire of Group 1 Coronation winner Inspiral and the broodmare sire of Group 2 Jersey winner Noble Truth. For good measure, Frankel followed up by siring French Oaks winner Nashwa last weekend.

Teofilo, another son of Galileo, sired Copper Horse winner Get Shirty, and was the broodmare sire of Group 1 St James’s Palace winner Coroebus. Galileo’s dual Derby-winning son Australia sired Group 2 Hardwicke winner Broome, while another son, Ulysses, sired Chesham winner Holloway.

Despite the Gold Cup defeat for his celebrated runners, Sea The Stars, who stands at Gilltown Stud in Ireland, had a very successful meet in his own right, led by undefeated Group 1 Queen Anne winner Baaeed. Sea The Stars is also the broodmare sire of Group 2 Queen’s Vase winner Elder Eldarov and Golden Gates winner Missed the Cut.