Royal Marine is an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old in 2018 he was one of the best colts of his generation in Europe, winning two of his three races including the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. He failed to reproduce his juvenile form in 2019 and was gelded.
Background
Royal Marine is a bay horse with a narrow white stripe bred and owned by Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin organisation. He was sent into training with Saeed bin Suroor, whose stable is based at Newmarket, Suffolkin the summer with most of the horses relocating to Godolphin's Dubai training centre in winter. He was sired by Raven's Pass who showed top class form in Europe but is best known for being the only horse trained in Britain to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. His other foals have included Secret Number and Richard Pankhurst. Royal Marine's dam Inner Secret, a half-sister to Dubai Destination, finished third on her only start but produced at least three other winners. Mysterial, the dam of Inner Secret and Dubai Destination, was a half-sister to Agnes World.
Racing career
2018: two-year-old season
Royal Marine made his debut in a minor race over six furlongs at Newmarket Racecourse on 25 August in which he was ridden by Pat Cosgrave and started the 9/4 second favourite in an eleven-runner field. He was "unruly" in the starting stalls and failed to live up to expectations in the race as he came home sixth behind Jash, more than twelve lengths behind the winner. Oisin Murphy took the ride when the colt started at odds of 11/2 for a seven furlong maiden race at Doncaster Racecourse on 14 September. Royal Marine led from the start and recorded his first success as he came home two and a quarter lengths clear of the John Gosden-trained Turgenev. On 7 October Royal Marine was sent to France and moved up sharply in class to contest the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere over 1600 metres at Longchamp Racecourse. Ridden by Murphy he started the 5/1 third choice in the betting behind Anodor and Boitron, while the other three runners were Broome, Shaman and Dark Jedi. After racing in second place behind Broome, Royal Marine took the lead in the straight and stayed on well to win by a neck with Anodor three quarters of a length back in third place. After the race Saeed bin Suroor said "Royal Marine has been good since he won at Doncaster last time. What I like about him is he stays well, but he also has plenty of speed. He's a big, strong horse and in the future he could be anything. He's still a baby and he will be better in the future. We'll talk to Sheikh Mohammed and make a decision about what we are going to do".
