Recent occurrences show that when coach Charlie Appleby sends a racehorse to North America, the competitor warrants close attention. According to data from Equineline, Appleby has been victorious in 40 races out of 125 attempts since the beginning of 2021 (a 32% success rate), including 23 Grade 1 victories.
Appleby possesses a keen understanding of which horses within his stable will perform optimally on the firmer North American turf and which are well-matched against the top horses in the United States. On August 9, in the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer Stakes, Appleby’s horses secured first and third positions in the $750,000 contest at Saratoga Race Course.
America’s Best Racing is taking a look at leading hopefuls for the 14 races that make up the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, and this week we are evaluating El Cordobes after securing a spot in the Longines Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar with a half-length Sword Dancer victory.
Achievements: El Cordobes participated in only one race as a 2-year-old and twice in 2024 as a 3-year-old, achieving victory on the all-weather surface at Kempton Park. He began his 4-year-old season in Dubai, finishing second in two races. However, El Cordobes began to truly excel during the spring and summer months with increased distances.
He was victorious in a 1 ½-mile race by 3 ¼ lengths on May 3 at Newmarket and secured third place in the Group 3 Sky Sports Racing Aston Park Stakes at Newbury two weeks later. His standout performance occurred on July 10 at Newmarket, where he surged ahead in the final furlong to win the 1 ½-mile Kingdom of Bahrain Princess of Wales’s Stakes by two lengths, marking his first stakes victory.
Both the Aston Park and Princess of Wales’s Stakes took place on ground rated as good to firm in England, making the Sword Dancer an appealing option for Appleby and the Godolphin homebred.
El Cordobes was positioned slightly further back as they entered the stretch, finding himself near the rear of the eight-horse Sword Dancer field. However, he displayed exceptional acceleration and skillfully navigated between horses in the deep stretch, seizing the lead between stablemate Nations Pride on his inside and runner-up Rebel Red on his outside. In the final strides under Flavien Prat’s guidance, El Cordobes shifted leads multiple times but still managed to complete his final quarter-mile in :22.98 and the final eighth of a mile in :11.53, demonstrating impressive closing fractions for a 1 ½-mile race.
“He ran a tremendous race, and Flavien delivered an excellent ride,” said Appleby’s traveling assistant, Chris Connett. “He’s not a small horse, but he can be agile when necessary, and with someone like Flavien on board, 99% of the time, if he has the horse under control, he’ll find a way to get to the front.”
Speed Figures: El Cordobes posted a 104 Beyer Speed Figure for the Sword Dancer, a figure that is tied for the year’s best for a turf race at one mile or greater. Correspondingly, he achieved a 119 Equibase Speed Figure, just two points shy of the year’s best for a two-turn turf race, indicating considerable speed.
Looking Ahead: Appleby has triumphed in three of the last four editions of the Breeders’ Cup Turf with Godolphin horses — Yibir in 2021 and Rebel’s Romance in 2022 and 2024 — and should be in a very good position again in 2025. Rebel’s Romance remains in training and won a Group 1 race Aug. 10 in Germany, while both El Cordobes and Sword Dancer third-place finisher Nations Pride appear to be legitimate contenders.
I was particularly impressed by El Cordobes’s rally in the Sword Dancer, where he overcame challenges near the top of the stretch and then skillfully navigated between horses in the final furlong with a powerful late surge. He is scheduled to return to England on Thursday, and his connections have not yet confirmed participation in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. However, if El Cordobes is present in the starting gate on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, he will pose a significant threat to win. You can consider me a strong supporter of El Cordobes.
