'He answered every call we asked of him'

Five-time Group 1 winner Modern Games has been retired from racing and will begin a new career as a stallion.

The son of Dubawi, who was trained by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin, won eight of his 16 appearances, including top-level races at two, three and four in Britain, France and the US. His final appearance on the racecourse came at Royal Ascot when he finished fourth to Triple Time in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes.

Appleby said: "Modern Games was a brilliant horse to train and such a great advert for Godolphin. To win at two Breeders’ Cups, to be part of our trio of Guineas winners in 2022, and to land the Lockinge Stakes this season, shows his class, toughness and durability.

"He answered every call we asked of him, and we will miss him at Moulton Paddocks. I’m sure he will be a huge success in his next career as a stallion.”

The four-year-old, who is out of the exceptional broodmare Modern Ideals and a half-brother to 2023 1,000 Guineas winner Mawj, won the first of his eight races in a Newmarket maiden as a juvenile in July 2021.

He ended his two-year-old campaign with success in the Group 3 Tattersalls Stakes, before landing the Group 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar in November of that year.

Modern Games began his 2022 campaign with victory in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, the French equivalent of the 2,000 Guineas, and followed up with two more top-level victories in the Woodbine Mile and Breeders’ Cup Mile.

His final Group 1 win came in this year’s Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, when he beat Chindit by a length and a half.

But Modern Games' racing legacy will be the globetrotting efforts that saw him develop into a star for the stable. His final 11 races were run at the top level and he competed in four countries. He won four of his seven starts outside of Britain.

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