Time Is Now For Darley's Dominance In States - by Joel Cunningham

For a long time I've awaited the day that Darley would break through and truly dominate American racing and it appears they finally may be on their way to doing so. "Dominance" in horse racing is a relative term, but the type of summer and fall campaign they figure to reign on America - specifically New York - could be as close to dominance as you'll see in this industry if the pieces fall into place for the powerful stable.

Owned by Dubai's ruler Sheik Mohammed, Darley – the Americanized sister stable to the powerful Godolphin stable, has dumped money into this industry by the (oil) barrel for some time now, spending tens of millions of dollars to acquire the best bloodstock at every single prominent sale around the world. Darley has one chief competitor - Coolmore, who itself doesn't have pockets near as deep as the endless billions of dollars in wealth that the Sheik has.

I have long predicted their eventual dominance, but it wasn't until a few days ago I really started to believe that day might be here. We have sat and watched them purchase a large majority of the blue hen broodmares over the last 10 years, and they are now breeding horses like Bernardini out of Grade I mares. Has this slowed their involvement at the yearling and 2-year-old in training sales?...No. They continue to be the leading buyer by a long stretch at every major sale in the world, and on top of that, they purchase horses like Discreet Cat, Henny Hughes and many others by throwing ridiculous amounts of money to smaller owners to get the horses that they “missed” at the sales.

The knock on their operation is that they have not won the coveted Kentucky Derby (GI), despite trying vigorously from the late 90's through the turn of the century. The fact is that it is almost impossible to try to win one particular, single race every year, especially the Derby where it takes immense luck on top of talent. I think we all saw that Darley has clearly changed their priorities and approach to how they operate their American fleet of horses by the fact that they chose to skip the Derby with Discreet Cat, who was easily the best chance that stable has ever had of winning the “greatest two minutes in sports.” The discipline displayed by them to pass a race that they had so long coveted goes to show that they have taken a more practical approach, and they are doing things the right way - which is making decisions that are best for the horses and not the owners. We all know that this sort of good management practice usually pays off in the long run, and I believe Darley will reap the benefits this year.

So, how will they dominate American racing? Well, let's evaluate their North American bloodstock.

For starters, Bernardini, the stable's first American Classic winner, has been given a nice rest after displaying that he could be the kind of horse that could impact the breed all together. He is immaculately bred, very fast and already very accomplished, has unbelievable looks and an appearance about him, he moves like poetry, and the scary part - he will get better. Darley displayed their patience and will to do what is best for the horse again in this instance by skipping the Gr. I Belmont, where he would have been the heavy favorite in one of America's greatest races, and instead will point him to the Travers (GI). The fact is he'll be the horse to beat in that race, and I personally don't see him getting beat anytime soon. Looking at the older horse division and how it currently stands, Flower Alley and Bellamy Road may be the only horses with the upside to beat Bernardini, but both are unraced thus far in 2006 with major question marks surrounding their condition. It has left a sizable void in the handicap division, as the unglamorous duo of Buzzard's Bay and Brass Hat and former claimer Lava Man appear to be America's leaders in that division at this point.

Discreet Cat is at Belmont training forwardly for the Dwyer (GII) on July 4th, where is he certain to be the horse to beat off of his dominating UAE Derby (GI) victory earlier this year. A win there would make him the favorite for the Haskell Invitational (GI) on the same weekend Bernardini will be the favorite in the Travers. Like Bernardini, Discreet Cat is also a brilliant animal, and it is quite easy to label that duo as the top pair of 3-year-olds in the country with the disappointing departure of Barbaro.

A Haskell-Travers double - which happen to be the two most important 3-year-old races in the second half of the year - would be the pseudo beginning of the realization that Darley has arrived in North America - and arrived in a big way. Looking further down the road to the Breeders' Cup, Darley has a handful of top challengers to win the Classic (GI) and Turf (GI), depending on what they want to do and the surface they wish to try and do it. Horses like Bernardini and Discreet Cat make for an already strong hand in the Classic without even taking into account Dubai World Cup (GI) winner Electrocutionist, who could also participate in the 1 1/2-mile Turf along with several other of the top turfers they have stabled in Europe to choose from.

As for filly and mare turfers, they acquired the highly-regarded Shawanda last year from the Aga Khan after that filly finished a credible sixth against the best turf colts in the world in the Arc de Triomphe (GI). She was actually well bet in that race against the likes of Hurricane Run, Shirroco, Bago, Motivator, etc. and has been virtually unbeatable against her own gender. There is little doubt that she should be one of the horses to beat in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) at the extended 1 3/8-mile distance, if she is healthy and shows up for that event.

The Woody Stephens Breeders' Cup (GII) on the Belmont undercard could be the unveiling of one of the Sprint division leaders if they choose to run recent impressive winner on Preakness Day, Songster, and/or the brilliant Henny Hughes, who is training forwardly at Belmont and figures to be a force around one turn this summer. Both colts have tremendous speed and ability, and would be no surprise at all to see them blossom into top Breeders' Cup Sprint (GI) contenders by year's end.

It is almost too bad that there is not a Filly and Mare Sprint in the Breeders' Cup, as it appears to be the only major group of horses that doesn't have their own Breeders' Cup event, because Darley arguably also has a horse in that division as well in the dominant Dubai Escapade, the half sister to the brilliant Madcap Escapade that figures to be a handful in New York this summer in races like the Ballerina (GI).

While it is unclear what Darley's juveniles look like this early in the year, you can expect them to be loaded with several expensive auction purchases and homebreds with ridiculously nice pedigrees. Would it really be a surprise to see them win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI) with a colt of the ability of a Street Cry?...Or the Juvenile Fillies (GI) with a debutante with the class of a Tempera?...Not at all. In fact, you can almost expect them to have at least one in the gate for each of those races this November at Churchill Downs.

In the Distaff division, Darley has 2004 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI) runner-up Balleto, who ran very respectably in her second start off a very long layoff to be a game second in the Shuvee (GII) last out and has every right to improve on the stretch-out to around two turns.

While their may be more acquisitions and other horses, such as the promising Barbican (full brother to champ Tempera that got hurt at Gulfstream Park after a very promising allowance victory) that develop into North American threats later on this year for the Darley camp, one thing we can count on is that they are set up to have a very productive second half of the 2006 season, and I can't help but to imagine how ironic it would be if they show up at Churchill Downs - the place they chose to emulate when constructing Nad Al Sheba racetrack in their home land and also the venue of the heralded Kentucky Derby that they have tried so hard to win in the past - and clean house in the 23rd renewal of the $20 million Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships on November 4th.

The warning has been issued.

-Joel Cunningham