Michael Dods - his 36 years of training, the importance of family and his recent Gimcrack Stakes success with Arapaho Gold.

Preparation is key but training racehorses isn’t an exact science, there are always curveballs lurking. Just ask the Darlington-based trainer Michael Dods, the man responsible for saddling this year’s Gimcrack Stakes winner Arapaho Gold.

By Bayside Boy, the 42,000 euros yearling is the third foal from the capable Irish handicapper Call Of The Jungle. The juvenile making a smooth winning debut in a maiden at Thirsk in May, with Dods immediately formulating a plan,

“I had it in my mind, based upon what he’d shown us, that Arapaho Gold would go to Beverley next for the Brian Yeardley, and we fully expected he’d win that, and because of his pedigree, and the distance, it fitted that he could run in the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot.” 

However, things took a sharp U-turn on the Westwood, when the 11-4 second favourite reared up, placed a leg over the top of his stall, and consequently was withdrawn. Dods explains, 

“I hadn’t really made a Plan B. Craig Witherford and Connor Beasley did a lot of work with him in the stalls afterwards, and we decided that we didn’t want to travel far – thinking Ascot might be a bit much for him – for his next start.