Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s international Godolphin operation is yet again a finalist for both the Eclipse Award for outstanding owner and outstanding breeder, looking to sweep both categories for the fourth year in a row.
Godolphin or its Darley banner – the brand that it stands its stallions under – has won or tied for the outstanding owner award seven times overall – in 2006, 2009, 2012, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 – and has been honored as outstanding breeder four times – in 2012, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Godolphin led both owners and breeders by 2024 earnings in North America and bred a leading 21 black-type stakes winners to command in quality as well as quantity.
:: Full list of 2024 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories
In the United States, where Michael Banahan serves as Godolphin’s director of bloodstock and spokesman, the stable was led by Eclipse Award finalist Immersive, the favorite to earn the 2-year-old filly championship. The homebred daughter of Darley stallion Nyquist, out of a mare by the operation’s late champion and sire Bernardini, won three Grade 1 races in an unbeaten 2-year-old campaign, capped by the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She is considered a prominent candidate for the 2025 Kentucky Oaks. Godolphin also could target its elusive Kentucky Derby with East Avenue, winner of the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity in the fall. The colt by stalwart Darley sire Medaglia d’Oro is from the immediate female family of the operation’s 2023 Horse of the Year, Cody’s Wish.
Godolphin had a second 2024 Breeders’ Cup winner at Del Mar, with the globe-trotting Rebel’s Romance, who has been a prolific runner for the outfit, winning the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf for the second time after also taking the 2022 edition at Keeneland. The son of Darley’s leading European sire Dubawi also is an Eclipse Award finalist in the turf male division.
Godolphin’s other Grade 1 winners in North America in 2024 were Cinderella’s Dream, Highland Falls, Measured Time, and Nations Pride.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.