Appleby’s Pair of Favorites Set for Stakes Action at Colonial Downs

With seven stakes on tap for Sunday’s Festival of Racing at Colonial Downs, two of the morning line favorites are trained by Charlie Appleby. Both Godolphin homebreds, Nations Pride was made 9-5 in the Grade 1 Arlington Million; Mischief Magic, 5-2 facing eleven foes in the 5½- furlong $150,000 Van Clief.

Appleby is no stranger to the Million, having brought group 1 winner Tryster over for the 1¼-miles turf stake in 2016. In his final race, the group 1 winner finished 8th to Mondialiste.

“It was a good trip,” Appleby said. “(Tryster) was a character. He was a horse that gave us a bit of pleasure. We went there thinking we had the right horse. Unfortunately, it didn’t materialize that way. Thankfully we’re hopefully coming back with a more legitimate horse in Nations Pride.”

Boasting a resume that includes six stakes wins in five different countries, Nations Pride is set to make the third start of his 5-year-old campaign. With nine wins, each over a different course, the globetrotter has also proven himself over firm, yielding, and good courses.

“What he brings to the table now is a wealth of experience on these tracks,” Appleby said. “He’s shown versatility on conditions as well. He’s won on soft ground, he’s won on quick ground, he’s won left-handed, he’s won right-handed. From a race riding perspective, he’s a horse that’s led before, or he’s sat box seat, and he’s dropped off them, so the key part about (Nations Pride) is versatility.”

Nations Pride represents the potential third title in this event for Godolphin, having won in 2003 with Sulamani and 2022 with Santin. As those two were trained by Saeed bin Suroor and Brendan Walsh, respectively, this would be the first Million title for Appleby, who has an extraordinary 38% strike rate from 56 North American Grade 1’s over the last five years.