Three elite horses from Charlie Appleby’s Godolphin stable have last night entered quarantine in Newmarket (UK) to mark the first stage of the international invasion on Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival.
The early arrival of Group 1 winners Folkswood, Blair House and Jungle Cat – who are due to land in Melbourne on Saturday, 8 September and will begin to chase the carnival’s riches two weeks later – is unprecedented and again emphasises the global appeal of Australia’s most prestigious festival of racing.
The trio will take the number of overseas horses who have passed through Racing Victoria’s (RV) Werribee International Horse Centre over the past 25 years to 230, with many more expected to follow when the two main shipments arrive on Saturday, 29 September and Saturday, 13 October.
Between them they have won five races at Stakes level, with Jungle Cat (Al Quoz Sprint, 1200m) and Blair House (Emirates Airline Jebel Hatta, 2000m) both Group 1 winners at the Dubai Carnival in March this year.
They will be looking to enhance their trainer’s remarkable record on Australian soil over the past two years, with Appleby having won seven races and amassed more than $2.2 million in prizemoney since 2016.
Two members of this year’s advance party are due to step out on East Malvern Bendigo Bank MRC Foundation Race Day at Caulfield on Saturday, 22 September.
Jungle Cat will aim to get his debut Australian campaign off to a winning start in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m), while Folkswood is targeting the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m), a race which carries a guaranteed start in the $5 million Stella Artois Caulfield Cup for the winner.
Eight days later, Cox Plate nominee Blair House – who like his stablemate Jungle Cat is also making his first foray to Australia – will bid to add to his haul of Group 1 wins in the Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield.
RV’s General Manager – International and Racing Operations, Paul Bloodworth, believes the high-class trio all have the right profile to make an impact on this year’s Spring Racing Carnival.
“It’s exciting that three horses of the quality of Folkswood, Jungle Cat and Blair House are just over two weeks away from landing in Melbourne,” he said.
“Local racegoers will be familiar with Folkswood after he won last year’s Cranbourne Cup before running a place behind Winx in the Cox Plate, but Jungle Cat and Blair House will both be new to an Australian audience and, if they can run up to their recent form over here, I fully expect them to add to Charlie Appleby’s amazing strike rate.”