All-Weather Championships Finals Prove Valuable

Finals Day of England's All-Weather Championships produced some thrilling albeit "chalky" finishes and epitomized the growing international role the series has taken through its nine-season history.

Godolphin took down the season-long owners title for the eighth consecutive year with 43 wins and Hugh Anderson, Godolphin managing director for the UK and Dubai, lauded the program's contribution to the sport.

"The all-weather season provides horses with a great introduction to racing over the winter," Anderson said, "enabling them to go on to bigger and better things later in the year."

It also provides a proving ground for horses targeting the rich races in the Middle East during the winter, as epitomized by the outcome of Finals Day's first race, the All-Weather Mile Championships Conditions Stakes. In that, My Oberon , sixth in the Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World (G1) in his last start, returned to the artificial footing where he raced in February to post a narrow victory as the favorite for trainer William Haggas.

Assistant trainer Maureen Haggas said, "For My Oberon to run probably the race of his life in Dubai, and to come here 20 days later, is a good effort. It's tough traveling to Dubai, and some horses need two or three months to get over it, so actually he's done really well today."

"He's a super horse," added winning rider Tom Marquand.

The rest of the program was dominated by favorites.

The feature, the Betway Easter Classic All-Weather Middle Distance Championships Conditions Stakes, was a minor exception as Living Legend , with Joe Fanning up, showed nothing but determination in prevailing over the favorite, Tyrrhenian Sea. Living Legend, a 6-year-old Camelot  gelding, took the early lead in the 1 1/4-mile heat, surrendered the advantage to Tyrrhenian Sea and jockey Andrea Atzeni a furlong out and still came again to win by half a length.

The victory backed up an even closer score in Living Legend's previous race, the Unibet Magnolia Stakes at Kempton Park March 26. The gelding needed a full two years off earlier in his career to recover from a bowed tendon and now trainer Mark Johnston said he's looking for more challenges.

"I don't know what's next. We'll take it one race at a time," Johnston said. "We have no specific plan for him. I wouldn't say this was an afterthought. We always had it in the back of our minds and he won so well last time."

The Betway All-Weather Marathon Championships produced a supremely formful result as the joint favorites, Earlofthecotswolds and Marshall Plan, reported first and second, just a neck apart.

Earlofthecotswolds, an 8-year-old Axxos  gelding, made all under Liam Keniry and had just enough left in the tank at the end of the extended two miles to repel his rival, a 4-year-old colt by Golden Horn , trained by John and Thady Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori. It was the third straight win for Earlofthecotswolds and third consecutive runner-up finish for Marshall Plan.

The Coral All-Weather Fillies' and Mares' Championship was equally well handicapped by the punters as joint favorites Highfield Princess  and Internationalangel reported 1-2, separated by a half length. Highfield Princess, a 5-year-old Night of Thunder  mare, peaked perfectly, winning for the first time since July after a second at Wolverhampton in her previous outing.

El Caballo , the solid favorite in the Coral 3-year-old All-Weather Championships, got the lead with a furlong left in the six-furlong event and was all out to survive the late bid of Tiber Flow by a short head. El Caballo, a Havana Gold  colt, extended his winning streak to five, dating back to May of 2021.

The Betway All-Weather Sprint Championships produced a rare upset, a thrilling finish and a victory for France as Bouttemont and Edraak, both at double-digit odds, got home first and second, a short head apart, with Spycatcher  another short head behind in third and the favorite, Ejtilaab , fading from the front to finish fifth. Bouttemont, a 4-year-old Acclamation  colt, was last seen winning at Chantilly on the all-weather March 8.

The other seasonal titles went to David Probert as top jockey with 82 winners, 20 more than runner-up Hollie Doyle, and Michael Appleby as champion trainer with 52 victories. Appleby also handled the winning-most horse of the season, Intervention, who finished with five wins and four placed efforts in a very busy campaign.