Baffert: He is no Arrogate, but West Coast is the best horse
Trainer should land his fourth Dubai World Cup Blue Point fancied to strike for Godolphin
Trainer Bob Baffert has already won three Dubai World Cups with Silver Charm (1998), Captain Steve (2001) and Arrogate (2017). “Three times,” he confirmed, “but it has always been a long time between drinks.”
Today, he fields favourite West Coast who, by process of elimination – the retirement of Arrogate and his nemesis Gun Runner – is the best horse in America, although he does not yet bring with him the lustre which California Chrome and Arrogate added to the past three World Cups. “He needs to step up now. This is his coming out party,” said Baffert.
“I’m more worried about the jump than the draw [stall nine]. Everyone says the rail here is golden and that you want the inside post but you can’t really judge a race before its run. A good horse will win from anywhere. My other runner Mubtaahij won the UAE Derby and has finished second and fourth in this race. He is probably as well as he has ever been since I’ve had him.
“The only reason I’ve been successful in three World Cups is because I’ve brought the best horses and, on paper, West Coast is the best but he’s still got to have the trip, he’s not speed crazy, he likes close stalking. ”
Baffert still has two contrasting views of last year’s World Cup victory with Arrogate; one of the greatest performances he has ever seen and yet, paradoxically, a complete disaster. “We knew he was really, really good, but we didn’t know he was that good, to do that,” he said, recalling the race when the horse fell out of the stalls, got baulked and was soon 20 lengths off the pace before hunting them down and beating Gun Runner by 2½ lengths. However, Arrogate was never the same again.
“I still beat myself up about it,” he explained. “He went off form horribly. It bottomed him out. He lost a lot of weight and muscle around his withers. I should have kicked him out for 60 days and forgotten about him. If he hadn’t gone off they’d have let me run him for another year and if I’d known that, that’s what I’d have done.
West Coast’s opposition includes Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s North America, who is well drawn, and Pavel, who is a popular outsider after working well at Meydan.
It would be foolish to rule out Andre Fabre’s distinctively white faced Breeder’s Cup Turf winner Talismanic, who makes his dirt debut having warmed up with a smooth win on Chantilly’s allweather. Fabre is in the dark about how he will act on the surface, but summed up the race, by saying: “I respect all the American horses, but there is no Curlin or Arrogate.”
Trainer Peter Miller has four runners on the card including sprinter Richard’s Boy (3.05), who survived the Californian forest fires that ravaged stables at San Luis Rey Downs training centre last December. He was found 10 miles away after being set loose by stable staff.
As much as I respect American sprinters, I prefer the claims of Blue Point, trained for Godolphin by Charlie Appleby. He is only now starting to fulfil early potential and is reportedly training well.