John Ferguson resigns from Godolphin

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John Ferguson resigns from Godolphin - - - (June 06 2017)

John Ferguson has stepped down as chief executive and racing manager of Godolphin - bringing to an end a quarter of a century working for Sheikh Mohammed in various roles.

Following recent reports in the media indicating unrest within the Godolphin operation, Ferguson has described his position as "untenable".

In a statement issued to Press Association Sport, Ferguson said: "Given the recent articles in the media, it was clear my position was untenable.

"At times such as these, what matters is the future and my stepping down will allow everyone to draw a line under things and move forward."

Ferguson continued: "The course of action is best for everyone.

"All the staff at Godolphin are wonderful people who work so hard for the greater good and I want to thank each and every one.

"His Highness Sheikh Mohammed has given me so much over the years - trust, opportunities, key experiences and perhaps most importantly kindness and counsel.

"For all of these things, I thank him with all of my heart."

Joe Osborne, the current managing director of Godolphin in Ireland, will take up the position of interim chief executive of Godolphin's global operation.

Osborne said in a statement: 'We are committed to our objective of achieving success for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and his family.

"Our thanks go to John Ferguson for his longstanding contribution to Godolphin and Darley."

Ferguson had been bloodstock adviser to Sheikh Mohammed before taking charge in February 2014 after long-time racing manager Simon Crisford left after the organisation was engulfed by the steroids scandal involving trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni.

Ferguson was appointed chief executive and racing manager in a re-shaped and streamlined Godolphin in December 2015 when the global racing and breeding empires of Sheikh Mohammed were merged into one operation.

At that time, Ferguson was enjoying a successful career as a jumps trainer. However, he handed in his licence at the end of April 2016 in order to devote more time to Godolphin, who have horses in training in Dubai, Australia, Ireland, France, America as well as in the UK.

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Lydia Hislop (SL) on John Ferguson's resignation from Godolphin - (June 07 2017)


It would appear that Saeed Bin Suroor has registered his most significant success in many years. As a direct result of the anger Godolphin’s original trainer made a point of sharing, the operation’s chief executive and racing manager John Ferguson resigned. He was terminating 25 years of employment.

“Given the recent articles in the media, it was clear that my position was untenable,” said Ferguson. “In times such as these, what matters is the future and my stepping down will allow everyone to draw a line under things and move forward. This course of action is best for everyone.”

That last sentiment may not be shared in all far-flung outposts of Godolphin as Ferguson leaves behind a number of team members who were very much his acquisitions. Other less high-profile departures may well follow.

These latest troubles to engulf Godolphin only went public when Bin Suroor did, but they had been bubbling under for some time.

His rejection of James Doyle as his stable jockey last September was a major clue, not just of Bin Suroor’s dissatisfaction but also of who held the largest stack of chips. Perceived by many to be a high-risk strategy for the trainer himself, this latest considered outburst was actually a show of strength.

“Now Sheikh Mohammed makes the decisions at Stanley House, nobody else. I like things this way. Last year it didn’t suit me at all,” Bin Suroor told the Racing Post’s Lee Mottershead. He was referring not only to the expulsion of Doyle but seemingly also of Ferguson from his yard – the one he tellingly described as “the main Godolphin stable”.

Bin Suroor didn’t like Doyle being foisted upon him and perceived the jockey to be riding to instructions given by others rather than those issued by him. He also perceived Ferguson to have sent him a backward bunch of juveniles relative to those received by Charlie Appleby, Godolphin’s other private British-based trainer since replacing drugs cheat Mahmood Al Zarooni in 2013. James Ferguson, son of John, is Appleby’s assistant trainer.

What part Sheikh Mohammed played in what happened next, we will probably never know but it underlines the unassailability of Bin Suroor’s position in the operation.

This should actually come as no surprise: Godolphin was conceived as a vehicle to promote Dubai. Bin Suroor is a native Dubaian – just like Al Zarooni and Ahmed Ajtebi, Zarooni’s former stable jockey seemingly promoted far above his ability, yet who rewarded Sheikh Mohammed’s faith with a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile success in 2009 and three winners on the home ground-fixture of Dubai World Cup night.

Bin Suroor has also earned some loyalty. He was a key player in the close-knit team that made Godolphin’s name – simpler times, when Frankie Dettori was its jockey, Simon Crisford its racing manager and horses had to earn their place in the taut 60-strong squad. These were horses whose names resonated worldwide – like Halling, Mark Of Esteem, Swain, Daylami, Dubai Millennium, Fantastic Light, Shamardal.

Bin Suroor clearly remembers those days well. “Everything was top class in past times, from the work riders to the people in the office,” he told the Racing Post.

Those were the days when Godolphin was sure-footed and precise. It seems a lifetime ago now. These days, nobody’s surprised when a promising Godolphin project turns up overcooked and abjectly flops on the big day. Thunder Snow’s recalcitrant Kentucky Derby performance even seemed emblematic.

In last month’s 2000 Guineas, not atypically Godolphin was comprehensively out-thought in tactical terms by the Coolmore-powered Ballydoyle stable of trainer Aidan O’Brien, the supposed arch-rival.

It’s been a long time since that was a fair fight. On every level – firepower, brainpower – the pincer movement Godolphin used to depose Coolmore’s mighty Galileo in the 2001 Irish Champion Stakes with Fantastic Light, aided and abetted by Give The Slip, is more likely to happen in reverse these days.

Godolphin has also run through a lot of jockeys since Dettori – Mikael Barzalona, Sylvestre De Sousa, Kieren Fallon. Now they’ve got William Buick in the main, underpinned by Doyle and a band of semi-regulars.

Despite a palpable fervour for the task by its employees, something is clearly rotten in the state of Godolphin and has been for some time. Dettori’s position as number one rider started to erode in 2012 and they parted company later that year shortly before it became public knowledge that he had tested positive for cocaine. Crisford resigned 10 months after the doping scandal that resulted in Al Zarooni being banned for eight years.

Other more fleeting associations could and have been interpreted as the need to find scapegoats for seasons of poor results. There have been flashes of brilliance – Farhh for Bin Suroor, Hawkbill and most recently Sobetsu for Appleby – but it’s a far cry from Godolphin’s heyday.

Instead, Godolphin makes many acquisitions and has many horses in training worldwide with many trainers – only last month Richard Fahey won them the Lockinge with Ribchester, for instance. More often it seems that big-race success relies on these trainers, for whom Godolphin is a racehorse owner like any other rather than their sole employer. It used to be that Bin Suroor triumphantly up-cycled horses he received from others.

Godolphin also owns a lot of racing property – most recently purchasing the late Sir Henry Cecil’s old gaff, Warren Place, to add to its other premises in Newmarket. Its operation also seems to involve an ever-growing entourage at the races. The net impression is of a bloated operation struggling for direction.

Yet this severance is unlikely to be the game-changer Bin Suroor clearly hopes and believes it could be. Whoever permanently succeeds Ferguson will presumably continue to be required to operate under the restriction, now more than a decade old, of neither purchasing nor breeding with Coolmore horses. As they are currently the world’s leading bloodstock suppliers, that’s a significant handicap. Try as he might, excellent Darley stallion Dubawi, supported to some degree by the admirable likes of Shamardal and Teofilo, has proved no match for Galileo and his crew.

Ferguson’s departure could be a significant moment for Godolphin. Whether by consequence or happenstance, it offers Sheikh Mohammed and his team a moment for pause and reflection. Bin Suroor isn’t the only one who hankers after the days of yore. We racing fans would like to see them more regularly making a better fist of the big days.
But you fear the Dubaian vehicle has travelled too far down a different road.