Delight for Appleby and Doyle as Jungle Cat pounces in Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke

Godolphin's Jungle Cat may have found himself a home as a stallion in Australia after he added the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes to the Al Quoz Sprint he won in Dubai in March.

For jockey James Doyle it was a first top-level victory in Australia, and a seventh of 2018, though he also picked up a ban after riding Folkswood in the previous race.

Trainer Charlie Appleby said part of the reason Jungle Cat was sent to Australia early was to showcase his skills in the hope of earning stud duties, and the trainer fancies Saturday's win in Melbourne will look good next to the six-year-old's victory in Dubai.

"That was the aim to bring him over here to be brutally honest," Appleby said after Jungle Cat's last-stride win. "I felt that as he was by Iffraaj and a quick-ground horse, I thought you blokes over here might like him.

"He's a good-looking individual and it's a job he deserves as he's been ultra consistent all his life."

Jungle Cat's win looked unlikely for most of the straight as Dollar For Dollar scooted clear inside the final furlong and looked a near-certain winner.

Land Of Plenty flashed home for third, just in front of the favourite, the ex-Hugo Palmer-trained Home Of The Brave.

Full result

Jungle Cat's win was timely as just 40 minutes earlier Appleby was forced to shrug off the poor run of Folkswood in the MRC Foundation Cup.

Folkswood, who ran third in last year's Cox Plate, was expected to challenge for the MRC Foundation Cup but failed to beat a runner home before veterinary stewards declared he had pulled up lame in the near-fore.

"I was a bit disappointed with him," Appleby said of Folkswood. "He travelled well and it didn't look like there was a ferocious pace up front but it was the one race where everything came from behind.

"He's the opposite to Jungle Cat. He digs for a fight and this one backs out."

But while that performance left Appleby a bit puzzled, the effort from Jungle Cat was everything that he expected.

"It's great to have a Group 1 winner here," he said. "It was a great job by James to get him home.

"It was always our plan straight after the Al Quoz to come here as there aren't too many seven-furlong Group 1s around."

Doyle, meanwhile, incurred a seven-meeting careless riding ban after partnering Folkswood, to be served immediately, meaning he will be free to ride at Newmarket next Saturday.

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