Godolphin Stayers Arrive For The Championships

Polarisation and Penglai Pavilion, the English stayers bringing international flavour to The Championshipos at Randiwck, landed in Sydney on Tuesday.

The pair are prepared by Charlie Appleby, the Godolphin trainer who took the Melbourne spring by storm with some amazing results from the team he brought to Australia for the first time.

Appleby’s spring visit saw him win the Geelong and Sandown Cups with Qewy, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Bendigo Cup with Francis Of Assisi and the Lexus Stakes with Oceanographer.

Qewy also fjnished fourth in the Melbourne Cup and another member of the team Scottish was second in the Caulfield Cup.

Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club will be hoping Appleby enjoys similar results with Polarisation and Penglai Pavilion as any success by the pair in Sydney will be a much-needed boost to the international profile of The Championships.

Appleby has set Polarisation and Penglai Pavilion for the $2 milion Sydney Cup (320m) at Randwick on the second day of The Championships on April 8 and will train the pair from the exclusive international quarantine facilities at Canterbury racecourse.

Their arrival on Tuesday a month in advance of the Sydney Cup allows Appleby the luxury of starting one or both stayers in the $300,000 Chairman’s Quality (2600m) on the first day of The Championships on April 1 if he feels they require a lead-up race.

Appleby would have gained a great insight into the right type of horses to set for Australian campaigns after his successful spring foray and on paper Penglai Pavilion and Polarisation boast some worthy credentials, even if both horses have raced over hurdles in the UK.

Penglai Pavilion is a seven-year-old gelding who has won eight races including three over hurdles from 22 starts.

However there is a stand out flat performance in his form history, having finished fifth behind champion mare Treve in Europe’s greatest race, the G1 Prix Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2013 when trained in France by Andre Fabre.

His one win on the flat in just four starts for Appleby was in a worthy handicap, the Cesarewitch Trial over 3600m at Newmarket last October.

The younger Polarisation is a five-year-old gelding with a strong flat record of five wins and nine placings from 23 starts and just the one start over hurdles.

He only joined the Appleby team last year and has raced three times under his care with his best result a second over 2432m at Epsom in June. He last raced in September when fourth at Doncaster.

“I am excited about sending our first runners to Sydney,” Appleby said on the Godolphin website.

“We had a great carnival in Melbourne and if we could have even half as good a time in Sydney I would be A third member of the Appleby team Gold Trail arrived with Polarisation and Penglai Pavilion and will also go into quarantine at Canterbury.

His mission is the $300,000 Mornington Cup (2400m) in Victoria on March 25, a race Appleby is targeting in a bid to gain automatic entry for Gold Trail into next season’s Caulfield Cup in October.

Gold Trail, a winner over 2400m in Dubai at his latest start in January, will stay in Australia to be trained for the spring after the Mornington Cup.

Gold Trail, a six-year-old by Teofilo, boasts an impressive record of seven wins and six placings from his 20 starts and won over 2400m at Doncaster in September in his last UK start before he left for Dubai.