Appleby Back Where It All Began

[Wandering Eyes]

ARCADIA, CA–He sent the horse out onto the track in the last minutes before sunrise, when the temperature suddenly drops as though to express the bitterness of night’s exit. By the time Old Persian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) returned to the quarantine barn, however, the dawn stealing across the San Gabriel Mountains once again matched the nostalgic glow that will always preserve this panorama in the affection of Charlie Appleby.

For it was here at Santa Anita, six years ago, that the Juvenile Turf success of Outstrip (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) gave a first indication that Appleby’s promotion by Sheikh Mohammed had not been a merely stubborn or quixotic response to the crisis that had beset his Godolphin stable following the Mahmood Al Zarooni scandal.

There have been many other vindications, in the meantime, of the Sheikh’s faith in a senior but relatively anonymous member of the team. The most obvious, of course, is the homebred Derby winner saddled by Appleby for his boss last year. But more instructive yet, perhaps, is the fact that Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) duly redeemed an otherwise immaculate record at the Breeders’ Cup.

For besides Masar, who had been caught in traffic when trying to emulate Outstrip’s success in the Juvenile Turf, Appleby’s only other Breeders’ Cup runner to that point had been Wuheida (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), winner of the Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar the same year.

Last year he brought three runners to Churchill Downs and again proved to have taken unerring aim, with Line Of Duty (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) winning the Juvenile Turf and Wild Illusion (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) failing by just a neck against Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}). Appleby promptly proceeded, moreover, to win the G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup with Cross Counter (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}).

He will try to replicate that success in Australia on Tuesday, with Ispolini (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) backing up last year’s winner, after saddling Old Persian for the Turf here on Saturday. But whatever else Appleby achieves, in the days or years ahead, that moment when Outstrip started to pick them off in the straight will remain forever etched on his memory.

“Six years,” he said, shaking his head. “Time flies! But when you’ve been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity I was–and I’m not going to beat about the bush, plenty of people were asking should it have gone to somebody else–the pressure’s there to produce the winners. And Outstrip, bless him, thankfully settled things down early in my career.”

After such an emphatic breakthrough year, Appleby could only really hope to consolidate in 2019, but two sons of Shamardal have since taken him into uncharted territory: Blue Point (Ire), by winning two Group 1 sprints at Royal Ascot; and Pinatubo (Ire), as the outstanding juvenile in Europe.

In France, of course, Shamardal has completed his annus mirabilis with two other unbeaten Group 1-winning 2-year-olds in Earthlight (Ire) and Victor Ludorum (GB), besides a Classic winner in Castle Lady (Ire). (Henri-Alex Pantall saddles the latter for the Filly & Mare Turf on Saturday.)

Now that he is a private stallion, with a carefully managed book, intimacy with Shamardal’s stock is a greater privilege than ever and Appleby is clear what sets him apart.

“They’re tough as nails,” he said. “I’d probably say the same if you asked me about Dubawi (Ire), and I’m sure Aidan [O’Brien] would too regarding Galileo (Ire). Those good sires, for me, that’s what they do. The reason their stock is turning up at the highest level is because mentally they’ve got to be very strong. They can handle more, and you can ask them to do more.

“They’re like those kids you can push that little bit, they’re willing to accept it and therefore they develop and go forward. It’s the horses that want it, and enjoy it, and do everything in a positive manner, that rise to the top. And equally we’ve all seen many a good horse that, when you start asking those more difficult questions, they’re more like the kids who when you send them into bat, they start to tighten the grip and get a bit nervy.”

Appleby noted how that trademark Shamardal toughness underpinned Blue Point’s amazing achievement at Royal Ascot. As it happens, the other day he visited Kildangan Stud and found them stabled across from each other–and the son to be a mirror image of his father.

“I’ve always been a believer in Shamardal,” he said. “Remember he had to do it the hard way, in that he came onto the scene the same time as Dubawi. His mare band wouldn’t have been anywhere near as Dubawi’s, or Galileo’s, but he’s always been there right underneath them; and since his mare band has come down, I think now to about 60 coverings a year, it’s got a lot more selective and we can see the results this season.”

Shamardal, in turn, is by a celebrated source of toughness in Giant’s Causeway. It’s far too soon to be thinking about it, of course, but one can always dream–so perhaps Pinatubo could next year try to go one better than his grandsire in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

As it is, the European raiders this year are almost wholly bereft of the adventure required to emulate so many turf champions who have excelled on dirt at this meeting in years past.

Perhaps that can be the next way for Appleby to build afresh on his spiralling record of achievement. Certainly he is not averse to the principle, albeit even in Dubai he has tended to be wary about switching horses with European pedigrees to dirt. (Lest we forget, he did try with Masar: life might have been very different had he taken to the surface, as he could well have been aimed at the Kentucky Derby instead.)

“It can be done, no doubt about it,” Appleby said. “But I feel I just haven’t found the right horse yet. It’s about attitude as much as anything–they’ve got to be tough to sit there and take the kickback–but you need that grinding action as well.”

He noted that Dubawi has been mated with some of Godolphin’s premier dirt mares, so the idea is lurking somewhere in the programme. Only the previous evening, in fact, a colt by Dubawi out of Grade I winner Wedding Toast (Street Sense) had broken his maiden at Kempton.

For now, however, Appleby sticks to a familiar type of assignment for Old Persian, whose ongoing improvement at four has secured the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic in March, and the GI Northern Dancer Turf S. at Woodbine last month.

“The great thing is that shipping is second nature to him,” Appleby said. “He went to Dubai, he went to Canada, and he’s shipped in well here. Today was his first morning out of quarantine, so he just went for an easy canter, but we can all see he’s bright and fresh and showing all the right signs.

“This has been our target ever since Dubai, really. We came back and ran him in the Coronation Cup, and he just ran flat. Our Dubai horses, they’ve been through a European season and then they come out there, and they’re training away, and something like World Cup night takes a bit out of them.”

Duly given a summer break, Old Persian made a solid resumption in Germany before outclassing the opposition in Canada. After that, the plan was always to keep him fresh for this showdown with local champion Bricks And Mortar (Giant’s Causeway) and the colt whose name is engraved below that of Masar in the Epsom roll of honour, Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

“We know what these Dubawis can do as they get older and develop,” Appleby said. “I think that’s what you see here, a good-looking horse with great presence. I think he’s a live shot on Saturday, I really do. Sometimes going into these big races you don’t know how they’re going to adapt. But for me he ticks a good few boxes: quick ground won’t worry him, the tight turns, the travel, the day-to-day work going into the race, he’s unfazed by it all.”

With the sad loss of Line Of Duty, Old Persian flies the stable flag alone. But Appleby’s record here attests that it’s all about finding the right horse for the right job.

“I was looking for a 2-year-old to bring out but didn’t want to put one on the wagon just to have a spin round here,” he said. “They didn’t just match up to what I felt was needed to be competitive. And at the end of the day it’s not a holiday, as much as it’s lovely to have that backdrop out there.

“Obviously last year was very special, what myself and the team achieved together, so [to follow that] was a bit of a mountain to climb. And a few of my big stars have retired, as well. But on the back of Blue Point and Pinatubo, and some nice 2-year-olds coming through, and now being here, and going down to Melbourne again, I feel we’ve maintained that level: turning up at these championship meetings, and being competitive.”

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