Mendelssohn’s UAE Derby romp
Kentucky Derby could be next for O’Brien’s charge Thunder Snow wins Dubai World Cup for Godolphin
Given its status as one of the few Group Two races at last night’s $10 million Dubai World Cup card, the UAE Derby did not even register as Aidan O’Brien’s first top-level winner of the nascent racing year.
But purely in terms of wow factor, the stunning 18½-length victory of Mendelssohn in this year’s race trumped just about any of his record 28 Group One winners last year.
The colt, who cost $3 million as a yearling and is bred to race on dirt, now looks cheap at the price and was 6-1 favourite for the Kentucky Derby after destroying a field who have dominated this year’s Dubai Carnival.
The Run for the Roses, as the Kentucky Derby is known, has long been coveted by Coolmore – both with horses trained in America and in Europe – and Ryan Moore has made no secret of the fact that it is high up on his bucket list too, suggesting a strong likelihood he will be prepared to forsake riding the favourite in the 2,000 Guineas to have what might be a oncein-a-lifetime shot at America’s most iconic race.
And though O’Brien has tried to win it five times – coming closest with Master of Hounds, who was fifth behind Animal Kingdom in 2011 – none of them have had the class of Mendelssohn or such an obvious chance of becoming the first European winner of the race the Americans crave more than any other.
The colt, by Scat Daddy, showed good early pace to get to the front to take up a position on Meydan’s golden slot on the rail. Once he had got it, Moore slowed the pace – but only for himself. While he cruised, everyone else was out of their comfort zone, and when he kicked off the bend, he left his rivals paddling, as if through treacle, before galloping strongly to the line.
Although it looked a strong race on paper, there would have to be a question mark over what he beat. However, he knocked more than a second off the 9½-furlong track record and his extraordinary margin of victory was also nearly five lengths more than any other winner on a World Cup card.
“Obviously, we weren’t expecting that,” said O’Brien. “We were very happy with him after his win at Dundalk, we knew there was a lot of dirt in his pedigree and that he had a lot of speed but we weren’t sure how far his speed would carry him. We’re over the moon. The lads [Coolmore] paid a lot of money for him.”
Most American colts are battle-hardened by the time they get to Louisville and, pointing out that had not always been the case with his challengers, O’Brien added: “The ones we went with before [to Kentucky] had no run or a soft run before.”
It takes a bit to impress Moore these days but he was clearly excited by the colt. “He’s a very fast horse,” he said. “It was his first time in front and he was still green in places. He’s high quality; second in a Dewhurst, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He’s getting better with every start. He’s very exciting.”
When asked if he would ride him in the Kentucky Derby, which is run the same weekend as the Guineas at Newmarket, Moore said: “It’s a while away yet – let’s see what happens.”
After that, World Cup night turned into something of the boss’s benefit.
Godolphin won four Group Ones, including the world’s second-richest race, the World Cup. Only one horse came from off the pace on the dirt all night, so when Christophe Soumillon got Thunder Snow, last year’s UAE Derby winner, over from his outside draw to the rail by the first bend it was as good as one hand on the cup.
Last year, Thunder Snow went on the path which Mendelssohn is set to follow, to Kentucky. But he blotted his copybook by coming out of the stalls and bucking all the way up the stretch. By providing Saeed bin Suroor with his eighth World Cup, he went some way to erasing that embarrassment.
He ended up winning, unchallenged, by just under six lengths from the Bob Baffert pair West Coast and Mubtaahij. Pavel, another American horse, was fourth.
It was honours even between Godolphin’s two principal trainers, with Bin Suroor also successful with Benbatl in the Turf. Charlie Appleby broke his World Cup night duck thanks to Jungle Cat in the Al Quoz Sprint and Hawkbill in the Sheema Classic.
As good a night as it was for the Royal blues, it was quite a payday for Soumillon. He and Vazirabad made a bit of Dubai racing history when the horse became the first to win at three separate World Cups when taking the Gold Cup for the third time under a beautifully judged ride from the Belgian. Big Orange, possibly affected by the set-fast he had earlier in the week, never looked happy and Frankie Dettori eased him down late on.