Farhh Gives Godolphin Champion Stakes
- Saturday, 19 October 2013 23:59
Farhh has brought some consolation at the end of a difficult season for Sheikh Mohammed with victory in the STG1.3 million ($A2.19 million) Champion Stakes at Ascot.
The five-year-old moved to the lead early in the straight under Silvestre De Sousa and fought hard to resist the 2011 winner Cirrus Des Aigles and Epsom Derby champion Ruler Of The World.
Twice a wide-margin runner-up to Frankel last season, Farhh seized the opportunity to restore some gloss to Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin racing stable.
In May one of the sheikh's trainers, Mahmood Al Zarooni, was banned for eight years after anabolic steroids were found to have been administered to 22 of his horses. Those horses were banned from racing for six months but Farhh was not in Al Zarooni's care.
Farhh opened his campaign by winning the Lockinge Stakes on May 18 but had been sidelined since after dislodging a flake of bone from his ankle.
It was a fine training performance from Saeed Bin Suroor to bring the horse back to concert pitch after his five-month absence.
"This horse is very tough to train," Bin Suroor said.
"He gets injured every time he runs but his home work in the build-up was brilliant.
"It is a great result at the end of the season and it gives us a boost for the future. We needed that."
Farhh's finest racing moment was also his last. He was immediately retired to the sheikh's Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket to take up stallion duties.
It was his fifth victory from 10 career starts during which he never finished out of the first three.
Testing ground made the 2000m race a demanding assignment but Farhh never flinched in a driving finish.
He held on by a scant neck from the late-closing French challenger, Cirrus De Aigles, who also finished second in the race to the all-conquering Frankel last year.
Cirrus des Aigles' trainer, Corine Barande-Barbe, was philosophical in defeat for her seven-year-old gelding who has won 18 of his 52 races.
"My horse was drawn on the inside and had to race with horses around him from the start," she said.
"Christophe (Soumillon, who rode the horse) couldn't get a clear run when he wanted and you cannot catch a horse like Farhh if he makes his run before you. But I am pleased the horse ran well.
"He is not finished, as some people thought in the summer."
Farhh's triumph ensures Godolphin will end the season as leading owner in Britain for the ninth time in 17 years.
