SECRET AMBITION Credit by Dubai Racing Club
By Margaret Ransom
Magny Cours is a Kentucky-bred, mostly French-raced son of Medaglia d’Oro and the A.P. Indy mare Indy Five Hundred. He is one of three “house horse” runners expected from the powerhouse Godolphin conglomerate of Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum to line up in the 10-furlong Dubai World Cup.
The 6-year-old is trained by multiple French champion trainer Andre Fabre and will be making his dirt debut in the Dubai World Cup. He is group 3-placed and is a two-time stakes winner in 2020, one in France (Prix de Montretout at Chantilly) and one in England (Coral Gala Stakes at Sandown Park) and after spending the second half of 2020 shelved he returned to win an allowance race at Chantilly three weeks ago as a prep for the Dubai World Cup.
Fabre has had some success in Dubai, his charge Polish Summer won the Dubai Sheema Classic in 2004. He has sent out 19 runners on the Dubai World Cup cards in the event’s 25-year history, including five in the Dubai World Cup itself. His best finisher in the main event was Loup Sauvage, who was third behind Silver Charm in 1998.
Trainer: Andre Fabre
Jockey: Pierre-Charles Boudin
Owner: Godolphin
Age: 6 (horse)
Career record: 8-5-2-0
Career earnings: $119,771
Top Equibase speed figure: N/A
Pedigree: Medaglia d’Oro—Indy Five Hundred, by A.P. Indy
Color: bay
Running style: Stalker/mid-pack runner
Notes: Magny Cours is a commune in the Nièvre department, an area in central France named after the River Nievre… horse’s dam, Indy Five Hundred, won the 2003 Garden City Handicap (G1T) at Belmont Park… she was purchased by Godolphin’s then chief executive, John Ferguson, for $3 million in foal to Kingmambo…
California native and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Ransom is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program. She got her start in racing working in the publicity departments at Calder Race Course and Hialeah Park, as well as in the racing office at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. She then spent six years in Lexington, KY, at BRISnet.com, where she helped create and develop the company’s popular newsletters: Handicapper’s Edge and Bloodstock Journal.
After returning to California, she served six years as the Southern California news correspondent for BloodHorse, assisted in the publicity department at Santa Anita Park and was a contributor to many other racing publications, including HorsePlayer Magazine and Trainer Magazine. She then spent seven years at HRTV and HRTV.com in various roles as researcher, programming assistant, producer and social media and marketing manager.
She has also walked hots and groomed runners, worked the elite sales in Kentucky for top-class consignors and volunteers for several racehorse retirement organizations, including CARMA.
In 2016, Margaret was the recipient of the prestigious Stanley Bergstein Writing Award, sponsored by Team Valor, and was an Eclipse Award honorable mention for her story, “The Shocking Untold Story of Maria Borell,” which appeared on USRacing.com. The article and subsequent stories helped save 43 abandoned and neglected Thoroughbreds in Kentucky and also helped create a new animal welfare law known as the “Borell Law.”
Margaret’s very first Breeders’ Cup was at Hollywood Park in 1984 and she has attended more than half of the Breeders’ Cups since. She counts Holy Bull and Arrogate as her favorite horses of all time. She lives in Pasadena with her longtime beau, Tony, two Australian Shepherds and one Golden Retriever.
