The Godolphin operation looks to have some fine two-year-olds to work on over the winter, judging by the results at Doncaster last week.
On Friday IHTIMAL (11/10f) was a worthy winner of the May Hill Stakes for fillies over the straight mile, giving her a second win from five starts. It was the filly’s first race over a mile, having started her career at six furlongs.
This Shamardal filly holds an entry in the Group 1 Shadwell Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket on 27 September.
Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor said after the race: "Ihtimal showed some class when she won her Group Three at Newmarket and we weren't really sure about the ground today but she handled it well. For the future, we are looking at the Fillies' Mile [Newmarket] for her now. We will talk with Sheikh Mohammed and decide. She is an easy filly to train. She shows a turn of foot in the mornings and she is nice and tough. She tries very hard and she will be good in the future. She is a small filly but she has an engine and, with her class, I think that she will be fine next year.”
In the Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes (7f) BE READY (13/8f) saw out the trip well in just his second race.
By New Approach, the colt holds an entry in the Listed Two-Year-Old Trophy over six furlongs at Redcar in early October.
Finally, OUTSTRIP (13/8jf) beat a small field easing down in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes (7f) on Saturday, making it two wins from three races for the Exceed And Excel colt.
It was a big win for new Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby: "I was very confident, without being too confident, coming into the race. When he ran in the Vintage [Stakes] (Group 2 at Glorious Goodwood), we just got touched off on the line. They were two nice colts that went away from the rest in the Vintage, so I was confident today.”
“He is a nice horse and I thought he would handle the conditions today. He has got a turn of foot as we saw again today and it was a decent performance.”
"We will look at the Dewhurst [Stakes] (Group 1 race at Newmarket in October) or go to France for the [Prix Jean-Luc] Lagardère (Group 1, formerly called the Grand Critérium, at Longchamp in October). Those are the two options we have in place and we will see how the horse comes out of this race.”
"He is a horse who will strengthen. I would like to see him do that and a mile will be his trip next year. We will cross those bridges when we come to them."
