“The whole team at Shadwell are much looking forward to the Epsom meeting, as we will also be represented in the Oaks by (Roger Varian-trained Listed winner) Zeyaadah and have a very good chance in the Coronation Cup with Al Aasy, also trained by William Haggas,” Gold remarked. “It has been a very long time since we were represented in all three of the big races there and it would be wonderful to reward Sheikh Hamdan’s family with a victory in one of them in their first season in charge.”
Gold was kind enough to give is additional updates on the other stars of the Shadwell colours, commencing with the swiftest (and most popular) of them all:
“We are all looking forward to getting Battaash back to the track, hopefully at Royal Ascot to try and win the (Group 1) King’s Stand for a second year running. As has been documented, he had a bit of a setback at the end of last year, but he has been back in work for four weeks now and Charles Hills is very happy with the horse, so hopefully we can get him back to the track in one piece.
“We are also looking forward to running Mostahdaf in the (Group 1) St. James’s Palace Stakes on the opening day of Royal Ascot. He appears to be on an upward curve and won his Listed race nicely at Sandown recently on ground that didn’t suit him and hopefully he will be up to the big jump up in class.
“There are plenty of other nice horses to look forward to this summer, including the likes of Mehnah, who sadly had a minor hold up and couldn’t run in the Irish 1000 Guineas last weekend, but she looks a high-class filly and is the third high-class Frankel 3-year-old that we have in training this year.
“We have an improving horse called Alfaadhel, who won again earlier this week and hopefully will make up into a stakes-class horse in due course, together with Aldaary and Laneqash, who was a good 2-year-old last year, but missed the early spring with a hold up. We are hoping to get him back to Ascot as well.”
In the end, it looks like Mohaafeth, which is also an adjective for “consistent and sustaining” in Arabic, is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg in an operation that is doing just that–staying consistent and sustaining excellence at the utmost level, with horses and horsemen, worldwide, dedicated to its success.
