The logistics involved in flying the sizeable Godolphin string out from Dubai back to Newmarket are barely comprehensible, but it is understood that all the horses have arrived safely after a hectic weekend and are now settling in to their summer surroundings, writes Elliot Slater.
Amongst many racing experts the jury is still out as to whether or not spending the winter in Dubai is quite as beneficial as Sheik Mohammed and his team would have us believe, as the acclimatisation from the Middle East to Western Europe takes time, and vice versa. It's also fair to say that Godolphin have reaped a fairly poor crop of results since this shuttling policy was first undertaken and those looking at the Epsom Derby odds should remember this.
Godolphin's two big Epsom Derby hopes were trained in Ireland last year by Mick Halford and Dermot Weld respectively, where both Casamento and Dubai Prince proved themselves to be high-class juveniles. Now in the care of Mahmood al Zarooni (who appears to be favoured more and more in the internal battle of the handlers with long-standing Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor), the pair wintered in the Gulf before arriving back at HQ at the weekend.
Weld sent out Dubai Prince to making a winning debut at Gowran Park in September where he beat the subsequently smart performer Seville by a length. He went on a month later to very impressively land the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes at Leopardstown before joining Godolphin with Weld suggesting that the Shamardal colt could be a serious Derby contender. He is currently a best priced 12/1 chance.
Casamento (trained last year by Mick Halford), failed by only a head to beat the high-class Pathfork in the Group 1 Vincent O'Brien National Stakes at the Curragh in September, before winning the Group 2 Beresford Stakes over the Curragh mile and then gamely accounted for Seville by three-quarters-of-a-length in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster in October. He is also quoted at 12/1 to land the Epsom Derby on June 4.
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