They might be scaling back in Australia, but on a global basis Godolphin are making their presence felt in the big three year-old races with the Group I Kentucky Oaks on Friday won by their homebred filly Good Cheer.
By their veteran sire Medaglia D’Oro, who shuttled to Australia for eight seasons starting in 2010, Good Cheer was undefeated coming into the Oaks and came out the same way despite some testing muddy conditions.
Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Luis Saez, Good Cheer was a short priced favourite and produced the good charting a wide passage throughout and sweeping to the lead in the straight before going on to win by two and a quarter lengths.
“I knew Good Cheer would keep coming and she’s awesome. She is so classy to deal with – I’ve said it for months – and she’s seven from seven. She’s perfect,” Brad Cox said.
“She was probably a touch closer to the pace than I thought she would be. I figured they would be rolling, and I thought that we would have four or five fillies in front of us. It worked out that way and Luis did a good job of keeping her engaged early. She has plenty of mud on her but keeping her in the clear was a positive.
“She is hopefully going to be a champion. We have been very fortunate to have had a lot of good fillies in the barn and she ranks right up with them. It’s very special to get her first G1.”
Winning rider Luis Saez was in awe of Good Cheer.
“I felt Good Cheer deserved to be here and to wear the crown today, because she is so special. If you look at her, she isn’t that big and you would never think that she had that kind of heart. This filly is something else,” he said.
Good Cheer has seven wins from seven starts and this victory is her first G1 success making her the 29th Group I winner for Medaglia D’oro, who is now 26 years old and still active with an advertised fee of $US75,000 for 2025.
She is a half-sister to stakes-winner Ya Hayati being the best of three winners from four foals to race from dual Group I winning Street Sense mare Wedding Toast.
