From The Times.....
Godolphin monitor ground conditions for Iffraaj
By Alan Lee, Racing Correspondent
BUOYED by uplifting results on both sides of the Atlantic, Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin team is preparing to chase group one success in England and France this weekend. Iffraaj will contest the Betfred Sprint Cup on Saturday, so long as conditions at Haydock permit, and Librettist is an intended runner in the Prix du Moulin on Sunday.
Iffraaj was pushed out from 9-4 to 4-1 for the Sprint Cup by the race sponsor yesterday as support strengthened for the soft-ground specialists, notably Reverence. However, Simon Crisford, Godolphin’s racing manager, insisted that the race remains a target for the impressive winner of Goodwood’s Betfair Cup.
“We’re keen to get another run into him as he prepares for the Breeders’ Cup Mile and, if the ground isn’t desperate, we’ll probably take our chance,” he said. “All his best form is on fast ground but we’re not going to get that wherever we go. He’s also in the Moulin but the chances are it will be just as bad in France.
“We will almost certainly declare him for Haydock on Thursday and take it all the way to the line. If it becomes hopeless and we have to think again, we could send him over to America for a race.”
Crisford was in Saratoga over the weekend to witness victories for Ashkal Way and Discreet Cat. The latter will reappear at Belmont on October 1 and is a long-term prospect for the Dubai World Cup, won this year by Electrocutionist.
It is a barometer of Godolphin’s vexing summer that Electrocutionist has not won since, finishing second at both Royal Ascot and in the King George, where he aggravated a splint injury. “It’s taken time to get right and he’s not yet back in full training but we still hope to get him to the Champion Stakes at Newmarket,” Crisford said.
Librettist, responsible for breaking Godolphin’s group one duck for the year in the Prix Jacques le Marois, is set to return to France for Sunday’s mile race at Longchamp. Crisford said: “He came out of Deauville very well and we’re serious about running him this week.”
He warns, however, that at least 75 per cent of the operation’s 85 juveniles will not run this season. “It wouldn’t have been at all prudent to chase them along at a time when the yard was not well. It could have wiped us out for the whole of next year as well.”
Godolphin’s international campaign, of course, extends well into Britain’s core jumping season, devotees of which are still trying to absorb the sudden death of David Nicholson.
The former champion trainer grew up a short walk from Cheltenham racecourse, which yesterday confirmed it will create a permanent memorial to him. Edward Gillespie, the managing director, explained: “To me, David was for many years the captain of British National Hunt racing and we’ll find the most appropriate way to celebrate that.”
Cheltenham also announced that its prize-money will rise 10 per cent this season, that the Gold Cup crowd will be capped at 65,000 and that its first October meeting will commemorate the career of Martin Pipe.
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