Between what they've bought and what they've bred they have had alot of opportunity. If most any typical US-based operation had the horses and the financial wherewithall that Godolphin has, they would have at least gotten close, via good management.
I agree that at first they were buying all wrong. I mean...Comeonmom?? Remember too that they are also breeding alot of horses with exceptional pedigrees and yet I don't think a single homebred has even run in the Derby. The closest they got to a Derby was when Bernardini won the Preakness. Had he been 3 or 4 weeks further along that winter, he might have won them a Derby. He was based in the US and thus far there is no indication that a Dubai regimen works.
They took a dirt bred horse like Jalil and sent him to England. He was useless until he got his feet onto the dirt in Dubai. Then he came here and was handled easily at Suffolk Downs. That's progress. Has he run since?
I just think that they have too many horses to manage them all in the best way. This is not to say that they are ill cared for but they don't seem to spot them very well. Rick Mettee does a great job with what he gets but after training for 4 or 5 months in Dubai, by the time they get back to him...:rolleyes:

King Glorious, it's not about how much they spend, we all know that they can outspend anyone. It's about how little they get back. If any wealthy business person went into the racing business and spent like Sheik Mo has and got his results, they'd have been out years ago. It's not viable. If they were buying $1k horses and getting these results, I'll say they were geniuses. If they pay $5m for a colt worth $1m, they still bought a million dollar colt that's a likely flop.

I don't think Street Cry was as good as you do.

Apparently you were sleeping when he beat Lido Palace in the UAE Derby ( and then missed Lido Palace's subsequent US campaign ) and when he absolutely drowned Congaree in the Stephen Foster ( one of the more impressive performances of this decade ).

Actually, that Calder horse, Express Tour, nostrilized him in the UAE Derby.

But I guess that still doesn't make your first sentence technically incorrect.

SC was pretty good. He and Ruler's Court were probably the best Derby prospects they ever bought. I think Ruler's Court was still racing at age 6, a clear admission of failure by Godolphin. He'd race about once a year, maybe in Dubai or at Belmont, but as Andy said, maybe I should watch for him this month at AQU.

He missed Lido's US campaign, but wouldn't have faced him til later anyhow as Lido was a US 4yo and SC would have run with 3yo's.

I was aware of that....and also aware that he still beat Lido Palace.

Express Tour also won the Jerome......the same race KG keeps reminding us Discreet Cat won. And, he beat a much better field than Discreet Cat did.

Didn't they own both horses outright at the onset of their careers?

Might have even bred Street Cry.

I meant KG missed Lido Palace's campaign.

Street Cry finished ahead of Lido the next year in the Whitney.

I think they bough RC after he won the...Del Mar Futurity maybe or the Norfolk. Ruler's Court is at stud in Louisiana, so much for AQU.
They bred SC.

KG seems to have mised alot.

Skipping the BC Juvenile with Ruler's Court, a race won by that exceptional talent Action This Day, was one of the biggest blunders I have seen in my lifetime of following horse racing.

They owned Ruler's Court at the start of his career (though he may have been bought as a yearling or 2yo in training).

Are you refering to his last race in the Clark at CD? He never raced in the Foster.

Why dont you peel off a couple thousand of that 3 million your propped up on for Wednesday and Thursday.

Street Cry's last race was the Whitney. He demolished Congaree in the Foster in his prior start.

If I had 3 million I would have already bought out Fulmer's contract.

No telling what you are sitting on

I follow along poorly, I thought you were refering to Lido Palace.

As I said, I don't deny at all that it hasn't worked. I only say that it hasn't worked YET. I don't deny that they have spent a lot of money foolishly. I don't deny that there have been a lot of horses that never came back to run anywhere near the level that their purchase prices would suggest they run at. I just think that sometimes the expectations that we put on them are based on how much they cost and I don't know if that's an accurate way of judging them when we are talking about people with this much money. I also wonder what people will say if they win it this year with Vineyard Haven or Midshipman. All it takes is one. Will people still say it can't be done after it's been done? That's my question. Nobody is denying the failures of the past but rather we are debating whether or not it can be successful in the future. I think that when they get the right horse, it can.

I dont think anyone said that it can "never" be done. Even if it gets done by some supremely talented horse, does that suddenly their plan "good"?

They have bought some very talented horses. I also think one will eventually "hit". I think the results thus far will tell us that when/if one does "hit" it will be in spite of the way they are handled by the sheikhs.

Street Cry was an extremely talented horse with a lightning turn of foot.