SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2021 DERBY MARCH FOR GREATEST HONOUR THIS SIDE UP: EMPTY by Christina Bossinakis STANDS AND FULL HEARTS Greatest Honour (Tapit) rides a three-race win streak heading into the GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, however, IN DUBAI the Courtlandt Farm homebred certainly hasn't scared anyone away as 10 other sophomores have also signed on in Saturday's Classic prep. A large part of the draw is that the Florida Derby will offer 170 qualifying points for the May 1 Kentucky Derby on a 100-40-20-10 basis. The 1 1/8-mile test has produced the winners of 60 Triple Crown events. The imposing bay kicked off his career with a trio of on-the-board finishes in New York, including a close-up head second behind Florida Derby rival Known Agenda (Curlin)--a last out 11-length winner in a Gulfstream optional claimer Feb. 26--at Aqueduct in November before capping the season with a win going 8 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream Dec. 26. Sent off the second betting choice in the Jan. 30 GIII Holy Bull S., he employed his customary off-the-pace tactics to score by an eye-catching 5 3/4 lengths. Cont. p6 Sheikh Mohammed & Sheikh Hamdan at Meydan | Horsephotos IN TDN EUROPE TODAY by Chris McGrath INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGERS BATTLE FOR THE CUP The show must go on. After a year of pandemic, that turns out Godolphin’s Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) heads a 14-horse field for Saturday’s $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup. to be pretty much the default setting of our commendably Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. resilient species. And you couldn't ask for a much better example than the staging of the G1 Dubai World Cup--just three days after the death of Sheikh Hamdan; behind closed doors, and behind closed faces. At the best of times, it's difficult for family and friends of public figures to grieve in a duly intimate register. Throw in the frigid constrictions of Covid, with no tactile consolation whatsoever, and the anomalies between formality and anguish become harder yet. An industry that has benefitted from unprecedented investment by the Maktoum brothers has sometimes been made well aware, including recently, that a common love of the horse will never place us all into a single, harmonious cultural key. All societies have their different superiorities; and all societies, we hope, can learn from one another. Images of the Sheikh's funeral, however, remind us of the fundamental bonds that unite humanity, regardless of culture or rank. And any of us who have suffered bereavement, not least over this last year, must feel sympathy for those who were obliged to pray wide apart, in masks, as they bade farewell not to a rich and powerful royal, but to a kinsman or friend. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Saturday, March 27, 2021 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Project Manager Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen entrant Zenden (Fed Biz) exits the track after galloping at Meydan Friday morning. | DRC/Erika Rasmussen Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES Social Media Strategist ET Race Click for TV Justina Severni 8:15a Godolphin Mile-G2, MEY AmWager PPs TVG/FS1 8:50a Dubai Gold Cup-G2, MEY AmWager PPs TVG/FS1 Associate Producer 9:30a Al Quoz Sprint-G1, MEY AmWager PPs TVG/FS1 Katie Ritz 10:05a UAE Derby-G2, MEY AmWager PPs TVG/FS1 Director of Customer Service 10:40a Dubai Golden Shaheen-G1, MEY AmWager PPs TVG/FS1 Vicki Forbes 11:30a Dubai Turf-G1, MEY AmWager PPs TVG/FS1 [email protected] 12:10p Dubai Sheema Classic-G1, MEY AmWager PPs TVG/FS1 Marketing Manager 12:50p Dubai World Cup-G1, MEY AmWager PPs TVG/FS1 Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen 1:57p Kitten's Joy Appleton S.-GIII, GP TJCIS PPs TVG 2:57p Ghostzapper S.-GIII, GP TJCIS PPs TVG Director of IT & Accounting Ray Villa 4:09p Pan American S.-GII, GP TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 5:17p Gulfstream Park Oaks-GII, GP TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 5:55p Orchid S.-GIII, GP TJCIS PPs TVG WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 6:25p Jeff Ruby Steaks S.-GIII, TP TJCIS PPs TVG/FS2 International Editor 6:40p Curlin Florida Derby-GI, GP TJCIS PPs TVG/NBCSN Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 8:00p Santa Ana S.-GIII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 17 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • MARCH 27, 2021 Cont. from p1 Because every syllable spoken about the founder of Shadwell this week invites us to penetrate that forbidding public profile, so somber and reserved, to discover the humor, fidelity and human insight unanimously emphasized by those horseman who reflected on the privilege of his patronage. Their testimony came as no surprise. For decades, talking with his men had permitted no doubt of the authentic human connection he achieved with them. You can always tell when a boss is respected because of dollars and cents, and when cherished for deeper riches. In my younger days I remember friends, who were more interested in betting, deploring Sheikh Hamdan's loyalty to certain trainers. But that was actually how you began to get a measure of the man, and it must be said that the same friends tended to exult in the discomfiture of the British horse racing Establishment when the Sheikh enjoyed spectacular rewards for persevering with Dick Hern, confined to a wheelchair by a hunting accident, when even the Queen had moved on. (The dam of Nashwan (Blushing Groom {Fr}) had, of course, herself been culled by the royal stud.) Americans, likewise, observed the Sheikh's faith in the durability of spirit and horsemanship in Kiaran McLaughlin when he, too, encountered physical adversity. Sheikh Hamdan (center) inspecting yearlings with Kiaran McLaughlin (right) and Rick Nichols (far left) | Equi-Sport Photos Look for your New York-bred 2YO at the upcoming sales FASIG-TIPTON GULFSTREAM March 31 OBS SPRING April 20-23 Invest in a New York-bred and KEENELAND APRIL get paid in a New York minute. April 26 New York has the highest purses at over $182 million per year, giving FASIG-TIPTON MID-ATLANTIC New York owners more opportunity. In addition to normal purses, May 17-18 owners can earn an extra 20% with a New York-sired horse or 10% with a non-New York-sired horse thanks to the Open Owner’s Awards. OBS JUNE June 9-11 New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. PO Box 5120 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518.587.0777 • www.nytbreeders.org www.nybreds.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 17 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • MARCH 27, 2021 This was a man who, between his religion and his horses, At Juddmonte and Shadwell alike, you would hope that their developed a fatalism that staggered any who ever had to bring branded pedigrees have been cultivated with too much love and him bad news. Rick Nichols, long-serving manager of the patience for any abrupt disbandment. But nothing can be taken Kentucky farm, came to view his for granted, when these employer as a genuine father empires have been built by so figure; and, of course, as a true personal a dynamic. horseman. The Sheikh knew the Whatever the future may physique and pedigree of each hold, those cavernous stands at and every individual in his Meydan will seem to ring aptly worldwide cavalry. (Certainly it hollow Saturday. Conceived as a was a relief to Nichols to deal showcase of the Maktoum with such a man: he had once family's homeland, the 25th had a client rant at him for 10 World Cup night will have a very minutes over his failure to get different symbolism: at once a her mare covered, when it was memorial, and a lavish gesture already mid-April. "Ma'am," he of hope. At some point, after all, replied, when eventually given we will all have to pick up the the chance. "I thought it'd be a pieces. That's true, emotionally, good idea to let her foal before Mystic Guide | Coady of those who have just interred we breed her.") a departed kinsman, in rites of scrupulous and moving humility; How the Shadwell show goes on, from here, remains to be and it's also true, of course, of whole economies, whole seen. So soon after mourning another breed-shaping investor societies. from the Gulf, Prince Khalid, our industry is certainly being reminded never to be complacent in such benefactors. Cont. p5 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 17 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • MARCH 27, 2021 Success for the Sheikh's brother in the World Cup would have an obvious poignancy, but let's hope that won't cast any kind of shadow over the sense of achievement to which his trainer would be entitled.