Trawlerman goes one better in the Gold Cup with all-the-way victory
With no champion stayer Kyprios (Galileo) to deal with this time, the John and Thady Gosden-trained Trawlerman (Golden Horn) triumphed in Thursday’s coveted Gold Cup (Gr 1, 2m 4f) at Royal Ascot.
Having gone down by just a length in the 2024 renewal behind the Aidan O’Brien-trained winner, Trawlerman once again had a Ballydoyle challenger to deal with, but this time around it was Kyprios’ super-sub stablemate Illinois (Galileo).
Sent off the 85-40 favourite to make amends, Trawlerman was sent to the front by jockey William Buick and, having travelled well to the final bend, went for home under his rider and stayed on dourly to pull seven lengths clear of the runner-up Illinois in what proved to be a very comfortable victory for the now seven-year-old gelding.
The Saeed bin Suroor-trained Dubai Future (Dubawi), who had finished ahead of the winner when landing the Dubai Gold Cup (Gr 2, 3200m) in April, finished the same distance further behind in third place.
Trawlerman had warmed up for Thursday’s Group 1 contest with a front-running success in the Henry II Stakes (Gr 3, 2m) at Sandown last month, and co-trainer John Gosden was keen for Buick to employ the same tactics at Ascot on Thursday.
“He did it in the Henry II and I said to William ‘try and do the same, set your own pace, pick it up all the way’,” Gosden, who now has five wins in the race (three on his own and two with son, Thady), said.
“He’s such a lovely horse. The other horse [Illinois] didn’t quite stay, he’s a two and a quarter mile horse.
“I said ‘look, it’s the golden rule, when they come by you they know they’ve been in a two and a half mile race’ and they never got to him.
“There’s no point going steady like we did in Dubai [Gold Cup]. I didn’t enjoy it [the final furlong] because anything can happen, you never know until they cross the line. He’s part of the furniture you know.
“It’s absolutely amazing. He’s the most grand, lovely horse he really is. The other horse, Sweet William [fourth], they’re great old friends. They live around with the furniture for ever.”
Buick was registering his first victory in the race and said: “He’s a great horse. We tried it [same tactics] last year and we were only beaten by the great Kyprios.
“He’s been such a good horse, he’s so genuine. John and Thady’s horses are in great shape. I was so happy with this fellow when he won at Sandown so he had a beautiful prep into this and he was just so smooth throughout the race; he’s really what you want in a two and a half mile race.
“I didn’t have to touch the brakes once, he was in a nice rhythm and he was relaxed; he went on autopilot, he knows his own speed and he stays well so I was just a passenger. First Gold Cup, it’s been a long time coming and it’s not an easy race to win.
“It’s an extreme distance, two and a half miles, so you need an extraordinary horse with an extraordinary set of skills. He’s got that lung capacity and stamina.
“He got in a great rhythm – it’s a tough thing to do, be in front for two and a half miles like that, but he’s so genuine. I knew he would stay, which is a big help.
“It’s taken me a long time to win this – I knew he was the right horse, I just hoped I would get it right on him.”
Bred and raced by Godolphin, Trawlerman is a half-brother to winner Sailing Home (Shamardal) being out of the Group-placed mare Tidespring (Monsun), herself a half-sister to Listed-placed winner Sweet Dream (Oasis Dream) and out of the Prix Vermeille (Gr 1, 2400m)-winning mare Sweet Stream (Shantou).
Trawlerman was providing his Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m)-winning sire Golden Horn (Cape Cross) with his first winner at the elite level, and the stallion stood at Overbury Stud in 2025 for a fee of £10,000 (approx. AU$20,800).
“I said to my husband if he wins I’ll run naked down the track for a mile,” Jayne McGivern, the owner of Golden Horn, said.
“He so deserved a Group 1 winner on the Flat, he just so deserved it – I’m a bit emotional. Huge congratulations to the guys who believed in him and trained him.
“John Gosden has done an amazing job and I’m just going to say: first of many – Golden Horn is where it is at.”
O’Brien said of Illinois’s second-placed effort: “We thought he would be a Gold Cup horse next year, and obviously was the plan Kyprios would come here this year and Illinois would step up next year. The plan was for him to go to the Coronation [Cup] and I was training him as a good mile and a half horse, and then when Kyprios retired we switched him to this race.
“We have to be happy with the run and he had a lovely preparation the last day. Maybe if we knew he was coming here straightaway, we might have had him going earlier and maybe lighter.
“He might go to Goodwood and meet this horse again and I would imagine he will progress again then. He got tired at the two-furlong pole today, like a lot of horses do, and we will soon if we can improve him another little bit for this distance.
“It shows how good Kyprios was as Trawlerman had been second to him a couple of times, I think.”
Dubai Future (Dubawi) ran a big race to be third under James McDonald and the nine-year-old’s trainer, Saeed bin Suroor, said: “He ran really well and he stayed. Now we will drop him back to two-mile races and stayer races, maybe Goodwood.
“I said to James McDonald to drop him in and get him to relax, but also that as a Dubawi, he must have speed – he’s an amazing horse who has won over a mile and a half and a mile and a quarter.”