Is this the year Sheik Mohammed and Godolphin fulfill their Kentucky Derby quest?
Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Godolphin Racing Stable has won over 5,000 races all over the globe. Multiple Breeders’ Cup wins. Multiple Dubai World Cup victories. Triumphs in Europe, Australia and Japan. Visits to every prestigious winner’s circle, save one. The biggest one.
So how does it feel to have the Kentucky Derby favorite one week out from the Run for the Roses?
“It’s definitely a dream,” said Jimmy Bell, president and racing manager of Godolphin USA. “And we don’t want to wake up.”
After years of working, wishing, planning, and sometimes applying unconventional methods with disappointing results, Sheik Mohammed, the 71-year-old prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, is in by far his best position to conquer the storied strip of dirt at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.
A homebred by Tapit out of the mare Delightful Quality, by Elusive Quality, Essential Quality is a perfect 5-for-5 in his career. He broke his maiden on his first try at Churchill on Kentucky Derby day 2020, Sept. 5, then won back-to-back Grade 1 races at Keeneland, taking first the Breeders’ Futurity, then the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. This year, as a 3-year-old, Essential Quality has won the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 27 and the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 3.
He is trained by 41-year-old Brad Cox, the 2020 Eclipse Award winner for Outstanding Trainer, who won four races over Breeders’ Cup weekend. A Louisville native, Cox could be the first hometown trainer to win the Kentucky Derby. “To me, the Kentucky Derby is No. 1,” he said Thursday. “I’m not bashful about saying it.”
‘What will be, will be’
At the heart of the story is the only trophy missing from Godolphin’s impressive trophy case. The stable boasted more than $5.7 million in total earnings last year, culminating in its third Eclipse Award for Outstanding Owner, following 2009 and 2012. Yet it hasn’t reached its ultimate goal.
“There’s no question that’s been a pursuit,” Bell said of the Derby. “And it’s a pursuit because Sheik Mohammed truly embraces and enjoys competition, especially on the world stage. This is something he’s passionate about. Having said that, he’s very philosophical about it. What will be, will be. He’s not trying to force the issue.”
In 1992, Sheik Mohammed and Allen Paulson co-owned Arazi, the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner who was a 9-10 favorite for the Kentucky Derby, only to finish eighth.
That same year Sheik Mohammed established his private racing stable, Godolphin Racing, named for the Arabian stallion progenitor of the Thoroughbred strain. In 1999, Godolphin purchased Del Mar Futurity winner Worldly Manner for $5 million from owner John Mabee, then brought the colt back to Dubai for training, without benefit of a 3-year-old prep race. That strategy had worked for important races in England. It did not work in Kentucky. Worldly Manner finished seventh.
Two years later, Sheik Mohammed’s Darley America purchased Jonabell Farm, the 800-acre Thoroughbred operation on Bowman Mill Road founded by John A. Bell in 1954, just down the road from where his brother Nick helped then wife Alice Headley establish Mill Ridge Farm.
John’s son Jimmy remains the family connection as Darley’s American representative, entrenched and respected in the game. He has served as president of Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. His son Gatewood Bell was recently named vice president of racing at Keeneland.
“How fortunate we are and I am to be a part of this organization,” Bell said, looking out his office window onto the farm. “The Maktoum family has been great stewards of the land and of the horses and their people. It’s really unmatched.”
‘A global empire’
The Maktoum family has been the subject of recent controversial headlines, but no one questions Sheik Mohammed’s commitment to the game. Under Darley’s ownership, Jonabell has built a strong stable of stallions and broodmares.
The racing operation initially concentrated American efforts on New York. “But the reality is very few horses are that New York quality and caliber,” Bell said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t have the opportunity to develop a horse or compete in a different region.”
As its numbers have grown, Godolphin has spread its runners around the country. The operation ran at 30 different tracks in 2020. Seeking a Midwest presence, Bell began sending horses to trainers Brendan Walsh and Cox at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. Michael Stidham was soon added to the list. Stidham trained Godolphin’s Mystic Guide, winner of this year’s Dubai World Cup
“Essential Quality is part of the second crop of 2-year-olds we’ve received from them,” Cox said. “We’ve had a lot of luck with him. I really enjoy working with the whole team, Jimmy Bell, (Chief Operating Officer) Dan Pride. They’re a classy organization and obviously you’re dealing with high-end bloodstock, some of the best bloodlines in the world. It’s a real honor to train for such a global empire.”
The elusive Derby
Since 1999, Godolphin has raced 11 horses in nine different Derbies with no luck. Its best finish came in 2015 when the talented Frosted finished fourth for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin in the Derby won by American Pharoah, the sport’s first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. Two years later, in 2017, Godolphin’s Thunder Snow immediately began bucking right out of the starting gate and was pulled up by jockey Christophe Soumillon.
Last year, Godolphin boasted a potential Derby favorite in the Walsh-trained Maxfield, winner of Keeneland’s Breeders’ Futurity, only to see the son of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense suffer a condylar fracture and miss the race, which was pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We know that side of it all too well and, more important, Sheik Mohammed knows it,” Bell said.
This year is different. Not only is Essential Quality healthy and unbeaten, he’s won his five different races in five different ways. He’s won on the pace, off the pace, in the mud and in a dogfight down the stretch with Highly Motivated in the Blue Grass Stakes.
“The word I would use is he’s very versatile,” Bell said. “I think that serves him well.”
Bell is especially proud of the Darley/Jonabell team behind the scenes, the ones who planned the breeding, the foaling crew, the pre-training organization in Florida, as well as the racing team. Six different groups have had a hand in the colt’s development. That Essential Quality is a homebred, well, “that’s the cherry on top.”
What would it mean to Sheik Mohammed, Godolphin, Darley and Jimmy Bell to finally accomplish such an elusive but worthy goal as winning the Kentucky Derby?
“It’s the ultimate,” Bell said. “Everybody is shooting for one day, one race, two minutes. And you don’t get a repeat.”
Kentucky Derby
When: May 1, 6:57 p.m.
Where: Churchill Downs
TV: NBC-18
Purse: $3 million
Distance: 1 1/4 miles
For: 3-year-old Thoroughbreds
Post-position draw: 11 a.m. Tuesday (NBC Sports Network)
This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
