Starry Night

by Erley Turk

continued........

Fantastic Light Photo © Trevor Jones

The Dubai Sheema Classic was run on the grass over the European classic distance of 1 ½ miles. It featured the winners of the 1998 Epsom Derby (High Rise) and the Arc de Triomphe (Sagamix.) As the field of sixteen, which was rather spread out on the far turn, hit the top of the stretch the front runners began to fade. What looked at one point to be a competitive finish actually turned into a procession as Fantastic Light (5-2 second choice) ran off to a three length win over German-trained Caitano with High Rise (9-5 favorite) two lengths further back. Sagamix, who has lost his form since his Arc win, was a non-threatening eighth. Fantastic Light was ridden by English champion jockey Kieren Fallon, trained by Sir Michael Stoute (who also trained the 1997 DWC winner Singspiel,) and ran the 1 ½ miles in track record time of 2 minutes 27.70 seconds.

Rhythm Band Photo © Trevor Jones

In previous years the Dubai Duty Free was a carbon copy of the DWC (same distance) albeit on a minor scale ("only" worth $500,000.) Those holding the purse strings, however, revamped the race into a 1 1/8 mile event on the grass worth two million dollars. For some reason, only three U.S. horses contested the race…maybe for good reason as Saeed Bin Suroor in Dubai trained three of the top four finishers. In deep stretch it looked like the race would be won by Easaar, Kingsalsa or Kabool. Yet, jockey Tim Durcan (remember him aboard Conflict in the Godolphin Mile?) weaved his way through traffic and scored a ¾ length win aboard 20-1 Rhythm Band in 1 minute 48.60 seconds. And if there are any owners thinking, "well, someday Sheikh Mohammad won't be around to win all the top races" they should know that his nineteen-year old son Rashid whose horses run in gold silks owns the winner.

Thus the stage was set for the evening's main event: the world's richest horse race. A glance at the past performances revealed…well actually very little as it was hard to tell the running styles of the 13 entrants-who were the front-runners or from whom would we expect to make a late run? We could anticipate an exciting finish as the average winning margin of the first four runnings of the DWC was a bit more than a half length. And yet, the oddsmakers held Dubai Millennium as the overwhelming 3-5 favorite (which is quite a compliment in a highly rated thirteen horse field) with Behrens as the 4-1 second choice.

A satisfying moment for jockey Frankie Dettori who broke his 'duck' in the DWC in spectacular fashion Photo © Trevor Jones

As the horses left the starting gate, it seemed like Wordly Manner (who was bought by Godolphin for five million dollars as a two year old) and Dubai Millennium vied for the lead. Soon, however, the latter took the lead which is a bold thing to do in a race of this distance. Hah, that shows how much Erley Turk knows of race tactics. Put simply, Dubai Millennium held the lead "from first call to that's all." Around the far turn Behrens moved into second but could not get closer than three lengths. At the end, the "millennium horse" (no pun intended as he may well be) won by six lengths over Behrens who, in turn, had five lengths to spare over third place finisher Public Purse. Other placings included Puerto Madero ridden by racing's all-time leading jockey Laffit Pincay in fourth, Japanese representative World Cleek in sixth, British globetrotter Running Stag in seventh (alas, no purse money) and Saudi Arabia's hope Strudel Fitz in eleventh.

One of Erley Turk's regrets in life was choosing to play in a baseball game when he was 12 instead of asking his parents to take him 60 miles away where Secretariat was winning the Belmont by 31 lengths. Watching the television replay, it struck him how the crowd responded with excitement when Big Red thundered down the stretch. And so it was at Nad Al Sheba as thousands of people broke into a deafening chorus of cheers when Dubai Millennium was ¼ mile away from the finish line. Whether it was because this horse will proudly put their country on the world's map for all to see or because they love their Sheikh Mohammad (or a combination of both,) racing rarely sees this outpouring of emotion. The enthusiasm reached another octave as the horse was lead through the pack of (over eager) photographers with spontaneous dancing breaking out in the crowd. True, we did not get another close DWC finish, but we were treated to a performance of a lifetime as measured not only by the large winning margin, but also by a new track record of 1 minute 59.50 seconds. Bounce? Did somebody say, "bounce?"

FINALE

The victor Dubai Millennium

And so the curtain fell on a wonderful night of racing that featured a riding double by Tim Durcan, a training triple by Saeed Bin Suroor, and the convincing win of Dubai Millennium. DWC night has firmly established itself as the spring championship of horse racing (as opposed to the famous October and November meets such as Longchamp's Arc weekend, Champion's Day at Newmarket, the Breeders' Cup, and the Melbourne Carnival.) One can only wonder at what the "two- and five-year plans" are for this event? DWC night is the perfect venue to tune in on the jazzy three year olds of Godolphin and other stables as well as to showcase excellent older horses which have stayed in training. Sadly, it is too late for Erley Turk to advise readers of the Godolphin Seven Stars competition which offers fans a Rolls Royce if they select the stable's top seven performers or a Mercedes (for coming in second) or 150 oz in gold (for coming in third.) Details can be found on the Godolphin web site, and you can enter next year.

Dubai World Cup winning connections Photo © Trevor Jones

Photographs courtesy Julie Anderson unless indicated