3 minute read

Charlie Appleby's successful season in the US continued as the Godolphin trainer picked up a second graded race with Silver Knott, in the Elkhorn Stakes at Keeneland.

The victory comes after stablemate Master Of The Seas took the track's Maker's Mark Mile Stakes this month.

Things have gone so well for Appleby that the trainer has decided to keep a string of horses in the U.S. all year. "We felt we've got enough horses that we can assemble a nice team of permanent experts", he said. Currently based in Keeneland, he expects to move his select teamto a Saratoga base for the summer.\

Also enjoying a successful season is 1/ST ambassador Frankie Dettori. On Santa Anita Derby Day Frankie was back doing what does best - making sporting headlines all around the world. He enjoyed a spectacular six-timer of successive victories and was only denied a seventh by a neck in a thrusting finish for the Santa Anita Derby itself (see above).

Naturally, his sextet of winners, whose cumulative odds totalled a jaw-dropping 77,000-1 on Saturday night, evoked memories of his fabled Magnificent Seven in 1996, when the irrepressible Italian went through the card on QE2 Day at Ascot, costing British bookmakers an estimated £40m in the process. Racing needs its superstars, both human and equine, now more than ever. And nobody promotes racing better than Frankie, especially for people watching North American racing beyond U.S. borders.