The Group I Juddmonte International (1m2 1/2f ) at York overnight provided Godolphin’s powerhouse five year-old Ghaiyyath with another chance to demonstrate his superiority.
The Charlie Appleby trained son of Dubawi kept up a relentless gallop under William Buick to beat top class Galileo mare Magical by three lengths with another Dubawi in Lord North finishing third ahead of the Two Thousand Guineas winning three year-old Kameko.
Both place-getters had won Group I races at their previous start highlighting the merit of Ghaiyyath, who is undefeated this year.
“Ghaiyyath can do things that most horses cannot. His high cruising speed, the way he keeps coming and at the business end he has another gear to finish the others off completely,” said William Buick.
“He is high-class and he's now beaten the best around at this trip. He's obviously very good at a mile and a quarter but he stays a mile and a half. As long as the ground wasn't bad I think the Arc would be a very interesting target for him.”
A 1.1million euro purchase from the Goffs November Foal Sale for Godolphin, five year-old Ghaiyyath has the overall record of nine wins and two placings from 12 starts.
By Dubawi from a daughter of Galileo, Ghaiyyath is a half-brother to Fastnet Rock’s Group I winner Zhukova and is the best of five winners from Group I Irish Thousand Guineas winner Nightime.
Nightime has a half-sister called Mermaid Island (IRE) that has gone to stud here in Australia and left a number of winners including stakes-winner Ondina.
The Dubawi x Galileo nick is becoming a very successful one appearing in the pedigrees of 15 stakes-winners with Ghaiyyath one of three Group I winners bred this way joining Night of Thunder and Dream Castle.
The stakes-winner to runner strike rate is 8.4% and if we look at it more specifically with just Dubawi over daughters of Galileo the stats improve to nearly 20% stakes-winners to runners.
