Godolphin’s Cylinder lands emotionally charged Newmarket
The three-year-old colt emulated his now retired sire Exceed And Excel by winning the time-honoured Flemington feature
Cylinder brought a perfect farewell for his retiring sire, Exceed And Excel (Danehill), with a slashing triumph in yesterday’s Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m), giving the stallion a 19th top-tier winner, a neat 20 years since his own triumphant Australian swansong in the country’s grandest sprint.
Ending the six-race (five Group 1) win streak of Te Akau’s super mare Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) – a gallant second under her 58 kilograms, but ultimately stopped by it – Cylinder also brought Godolphin its third Newmarket in five years, after another son of Exceed And Excel in Bivouac landed the sprint in 2020, while star mare In Secret (I Am Invincible) triumphed 12 months ago.
Just three days after Darley announced the immediate retirement of the 23-year-old Exceed And Excel – Australia’s champion stallion of 2012/2013 and sire of 215 stakes-winners globally – the colt claimed a richly deserved elite-level win after his second in last year’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) and third in the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) last spring, jumping off as favourite on both occasions.
The former crack two-year-old, an easy $11 chance yesterday after a plain first-up third-last in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), sat behind ultimate $101 third-placegetter The Astrologist (Zoustar) as the widest two of the 12 runners, hooking to the outside under Jamie Kah at the 500 metres.
Imperatriz, a drifting $2.80 favourite, was slightly slowly away but shared the lead on the inside from the 800 metres. The five-year-old fought tenaciously under Opie Bosson over the last furlong but, giving 6.5 kilograms to the three-year-old, succumbed by a length and a quarter.
The Astrologist, second in this event last year at $61, finished third, his fourth Group 1 placing for Bennett Racing after their maiden top-level success with Southport Tycoon (Written Tycoon) in last week’s Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m). The seven-year-old nosed out the eventual fifth-placed Benedetta (Hellbent), with Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) a close fifth.
Emotions ran high after the race as Kah raised her 12th Group 1 and third in as many weeks, having won on Southport Tycoon and on Hayasugi (Royal Meeting) in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
It was at this meeting last year Kah’s career took a sudden downturn, with her fall in an early race costing her the winning Newmarket ride on In Secret, which was taken by Dean Holland, who died weeks later in a race fall at Donald. It also spelled five months in recovery for Kah, after several days in an induced coma.
Holland’s widow Lucy and their four children were on course yesterday, as Kah was presented the Dean Holland Trophy as the Newmarket’s winning rider, by the late jockey’s father Darren.
Godolphin trainer James Cummings said the victory was an important addition to the CV of Cylinder, whose fourth dam Shadea (Straight Strike) was the mother of another Darley flag–bearing stallion, Lohnro (Octagonal), who was retired from stud duties – also a year ago this month.
“It is an important race to us, really. It is with great sadness that we retired Exceed And Excel from the roster this week,” Cummings said post-race.
“Now we’ve got Cylinder, who is by that horse, from the family of Lonhro and he’s out of a Street Cry mare, so he’s got it all, but what he didn’t yet have was a Group 1.
“Things just hadn’t gone his way and now he’s got the Newmarket to his name. That is a huge result for the farm, and he just had them covered a long way out.
“It’s amazing that in the same week one champion exits the stage and potentially the next potential champion stallion joins the roster.”
Godolphin’s Melbourne foreman, Nacim Dilmi, celebrating his first Group 1 success since taking the role, attributed Cylinder’s improvement from the Lightning in part to the addition of a tongue-tie, saying the colt’s recent work down the Flemington straight had boosted the stable’s confidence for yesterday.
“It is massive. Obviously, there is a big team behind us, and we’ve always believed in the horse. We were very confident today,” he said.
“We added a tongue-tie on the horse as he had a bad habit at the stables, but early on as a two-year-old he had an accident in the barriers and broke his jaw.
“He’s always been a little bit tricky with his mouth and we wanted to try that on. Jamie came and galloped him on Tuesday and when she came back, she said: ‘He was awesome’.”
A half-brother to dual Group 3 winner Parisal (Astern), Cylinder is one of three winners from as many runners for Group 3-winning mare Circular (Street Cry).
Circular has a yearling three-quarter sister to Cylinder by Bivouac, named Sphere, and colt foal by Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible), and is currently in foal to Newgate Farm’s Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt).
Yesterday’s victory continued Kah’s golden autumn after the 28-year-old’s long rehabilitation from the effects of her fall from Flyball (Starspangledbanner) on Newmarket day 12 months ago, when she suffered brain injuries and several broken bones.
Returning to race riding in August, her recent past has also been marred by controversy, with a Victorian Racing Tribunal hearing ultimately clearing her of conduct prejudicial to the image of racing over the infamous white powder affair.
The stresses of recent months and memories of her life-altering fall last Newmarket day appeared to spill over, as Kah wept both after the race and apparently during its closing stages.
“There must be a God up there in racing because I couldn’t have scripted this. I thought I was a tough person, I’m not today,” said Kah, who sealed a winning treble after guiding Traffic Warden (Street Boss) in the VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and Hedged (Capitalist) in the meeting-opening three-year-old Cirka Plate (1100m).
“This is for Dean Holland, because I couldn’t imagine anyone riding that horse as well as he did last year. I’m not happy I fell, but I’m so happy that gave him the opportunity to win the Newmarket. Hopefully he’s watching down on us today.
“I can’t really remember the last 100 metres because I think I was crying, my goggles were a bit wet.”
Bosson said the Mark Walker-trained Imperatriz was “game in defeat”.
“She came off the bridle a fair way out but she stuck out a good gallop,” he said.
Trainer Mark Walker said the mare had been “chopped out a little bit at the start” but had had her chance. He said she would likely proceed to her previously stated targets, reverting to WFA Group 1s in The Valley’s William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) on March 23 and Randwick’s TJ Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) on April 6.
However, the brilliant mare will need a vet certificate to race again, after a post-race scope revealed the five-year-old suffered EIPH (exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage).