Hartnell targets more G1 glories with victory at Caulfield Cup

He’s good, brave and genuine, and as the most prolific Stakes winner to have carried the famous royal blue silks Hartnell occupies a special place in Godolphin’s global operation.

Hartnell is one of Godolphin’s true globetrotters, and has been a superb flagbearer for both the stable and his sire.

On Saturday Hartnell will run in the G1 Caulfield Cup in what will be the 57th start of his of his career and his 33rd at G1 level, and should he win, it would be his 11th Stakes success and would take his racetrack earnings beyond $8 million.

But to his trainer James Cummings and Godolphin’s entire Australian team, Hartnell is a lot more than a winner.

“Everything you can say about Hartnell has been said before, but this great horse deserves to have it said again,” Cummings said.

“Whatever happens, we know he’ll give his best, he’ll put in the sort of effort that has become the hallmark of the flagbearer for Godolphin that he is.”

“He’s won G1s from 1,400m to 2,400m, he’s won 10 Stakes races which is more than any Godolphin horse ever, he’s run in more than 30 G1 races, he’s been placed in a Cox Plate and a Melbourne Cup and he’ll carry topweight here which is an honour in itself.”

“I can’t think of many things in racing that would be more enjoyable than to see him coming into the race at some stage in straight.”

Cummings is conscious that Hartnell is nine years old, although he’s eight in the northern hemisphere where he was born, and he is aware of the effort the horse puts into every race.

“The thing about him is that he loves to race,” he said.

“We think carefully about him and have tailored his campaigns to keep him comfortable and safe.”

“He’s sound and fit and he still rises to the challenge of high-pressure races.”

In his preparation for his first Caulfield Cup, Hartnell has had three spins over shorter courses and two more at distances approaching his best, the most recent a third placing behind Kings Will Dream in the G1 Turnbull Stakes over 2,000m at Flemington after which his rider Brad Rawiller said he was “hungry” for some extra ground.

Since then, his training has been first class, capped by an impressive piece of work at Flemington on Tuesday.

Hartnell’s opposition includes horses he has met and regularly beaten and others who, like him, began their careers in the Northern Hemisphere.

Among them is Mustajeer, winner of the Ebor at York in August and now trained by Kris Lees, Mer De Glace from Japan who has won his past five starts along with Constantinople from Ireland and Gold Mount and Red Verdon from England.

Meanwhile, Godolphin’s Australian team produced it’s 100th Stakes win under the guidance of head trainer Cummings when Haunted scored convincingly in Wednesday’s Listed Village Stakes at Caulfield.

For Haunted the win was his seventh, and first at Stakes level and he could hardly have been more impressive.

After jumping well and taking the perfect trail behind the leader, Haunted cruised alongside at the 150m and had something in hand in registering a half-length win.

The win also came after a campaign that began over the same Caulfield 1,200m course in April. For Cummings, though, it marked a more significant milestone than for the horse.

The grandson of legendary trainer Bart Cummings took over as head trainer in July 2017 and had a single Stakes winner in the season that ended two weeks later.

The following season his team produced 23 black-type successes before a 2018-2019 season in which they an Australian record 62 Stakes wins were recorded including the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes victory of Kiamichi.

In the current season that began on Aug. 1, the Cummings’ team has prepared 14 Stakes winners, including three at G1, the most recent last Saturday when Flit took out the Thousand Guineas at Caulfield.

Cummings described Haunted’s win, and the stable’s previous 99 Stakes winners as a tribute to the team.

“This is a very proud milestone for the whole team at Godolphin,” Cummings said.

“We have a devoted team who makes everything possible, without them, the operation couldn’t function.”