It's Godolphin Again - Best Solution Toughs It Out in Caulfield Cup

Mark Smith - Saturday October 20

Following wins in the Group II Princess Of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket and a pair of Group 1 wins in Germany, Godolphin's Best Solution (IRE) carried his topweight to victory in Saturday's $5 million Group 1 Caulfield Cup to round out a wonderful seven days for trainer Saeed Bin Suroor and jockey Pat Cosgrave.

Last week the pair teamed up to win the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes (2000m) with Benbatl (IRE) (Dubawi).

Advertisement

It was a second win in the race for Bin Suroor after All The Good in 2008.


From a wide draw, Best Solution was slowly away and Cosgrove made plenty of use of the son of Kodiac to find a one out one back position behind the pacesetting Ace High.

After racing worse than midfield, Ben Melham set the Group 1 Underwood Stakes winner Homesman (USA) (War Front) to an all-out drive 700 metres out but Cosgrave was awake to the move and the pair singled out to stage an enthralling scrap.

Try as he might, Melham could not get Homesman's head in front and Best Solution (IRE) held on to win by a half-head with Aidan O'Brien's The Cliffsofmoher (IRE) (Galileo) one and a quarter lengths back in third with Andrew Balding's Duretto (GB) a hard-charging fourth. (photos Grant Courtney)

After winning two Group 1's in Germany to win another Group 1 in Australia is brilliant," Bin Surror said.

"I told Pat when the stalls open you need to be somewhere handy, third or fourth. He kicked early, which suited him really and he won well.

"It's been a great year. We have some very good horses. The Melbourne Cup is another big race, another dream for us, but we'll try"

Best Solution advances his record to 9 wins, 2 seconds and 3 thirds from 22 starts with earnings of $4,409,302.

A 32,000 guineas weanling and a 90,000 guineas Tattersalls yearling, Best Solution (IRE) is the lone winner from three to race out of the Kingmambo mare Al Andalyya who is a half-sister to Listed winner Kosmiche (Fastnet Rock), and to Cape Clear Island (Fastnet Rock} who was runner-up in the Group II G2 Prix Hocquart and Group III Sandown Classic Trial.

His stakes-placed granddam Kushnarenkovo (Sadler's Wells) is a sister to Group 1 winner Brian Boru and a half to Group II Herbert Power Stakes winner Sea Moon (Beat Hollow).

A Danehill half-brother to Invincible Spirit, Kodiac has risen from humble beginnings to be among Europe's premiant stallions.

After covering his third and fourth book of mares at Tally-Ho Stud at a fee of €4,000, the wonderfully versatile Kodiac stood for a fee of €50,000 this year

Advertisment
More Reading...
Call Me Handsome Repaying The Faith
Call Me Handsome (IRE) arrived in Australia off the back of a third behind rising young star Pakistan Star in a Griffin race over 1200 metres at Sha Tin back in July 2016.
2025 Breednet Favourite Foal Winner
Firstly we’d like to thank everyone for taking an interest in our foal gallery and supporting their favourites, but there can only be one 2025 Favourite Foal and Vinery Stud’s first season sire Hawaii Five Oh has gained a jump on his rivals in producing his first winner!
J-Mac Headed to Bac to NZ for G1 Ride
No-one knows better than Lance O’Sullivan what it takes to win the Gr.1 TAB Telegraph (1200m), which is as good a recommendation as any around the engagement of James McDonald for Tomodachi in the Trentham Group One sprint.
Cambridge Stud Looking Forwards to 2026 with Sword of State
Young Cambridge Stud stallion Sword Of State has landed another timely winning blow across the Tasman.
Sword of State Yearlings to Lure Buyers to Karaka
Cambridge Stud stallion Sword Of State was represented by yet another highly promising two-year-old when the Bjorn Baker-trained Warwoven ran out an impressive winner of the TAB Plate (1000m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Apulia Unleashes Devastating Perth Cup Trial
Lightly raced five year old entire Apulia produced one of the best Perth Cup trials seen in years when he produced a finish Bernborough himself would have admired to take the weight for age G2 Ted Van Heemst Stakes at Ascot.
Widden Produce the Magic Winners
The beauty of buying a Magic Millions yearling is their eligibility for a rich program of races scheduled around the country and no farm has a better record for producing the winners of these races than Widden Stud with Unit Five the latest name added to the list.
Tara Talks Racing - The Christmas Episode
A quickie to end the year and wish our listeners a very happy Christmas as we pick apart the Magic Millions contenders that have jumped out of the woodwork in the past week, who do we like heading into the Christmas break?    
Sires With Winners - Sunday December 21
Here is the full list of 49 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Sires With Winners - Monday December 22
Here is the full list of 20 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.