Trainer optimistic about improved crop of three-year-olds Nell Gwyn Stakes runner-up still on course for 1,000 Guineas
He had just seen his filly Dance Sequence, the third-favourite for the 1,000 Guineas, beaten in her Classic trial by the 18-1 outsider Pretty Crystal, but Charlie Appleby was still in a highly positive frame of mind after the Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket on Wednesday, about Dance Sequence and life in general.
The 2023 campaign was, by any measure, a disappointing one for Appleby, the Godolphin operation’s principal trainer, and especially so in the UK. He registered just two Group One wins in Britain, drew a blank the Derby meeting, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and York, and finished eighth in the trainers’ championship having won the title in the previous two seasons.
