17 ADIYAT RACING PLUS ISSUE 838 Thursday 21 st March 2024 DUBAI WORLD CUP adiyat racing plus.com Read Handicap (1800m) hero Ladies Din, G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes (2000m) runner-up Sumitas and classy mare Golden Silca. The stage was set for a dramatic battle between three champion horses and three of the world's best riders - Kiwi Childs (Sunline), Frenchman Gerald Mosse (Jim And Tonic) and South Africa's Robbie Fradd (Fairy King Prawn) - in a race that, in theory, most certainly matched its billing as a world championship contest. Who could have predicted, however, that the 108 seconds from pillar to post would exceed expectations? Drama developed straight away with Italian representative Crisos Il Monaco simply refusing to move under a desperate Olivier Doleuze. It left 13 runners thundering towards the first bend at Nad al Sheba. Sunline raced fiercely under Childs, more so than usual. Pressured by Slickly and Frankie Dettori to her inside and David Flores on Happy Diamond to her outside, she formed the sacrificial lamb in a Godolphin sandwich. While sectionals weren't then recorded in Dubai, unofficial data suggests that the 1600m to the 1200m was run in 22.45 seconds - a sizzling pace for the nine-furlong affair. The 1200m to the 800m was run in a more sedate 23.60 seconds, but that only had the effect of allowing Jim And Tonic - racing sixth on the inside - to make up easy ground on a rampant Sunline that proved crucial at the end. It did, though, see Fairy King Prawn - threewide with a trail early - forced back through the field into an awkward position, ensuring that it would require a Herculean effort from the Hong Kong gelding coupled with a delicate ride from Fradd for him to prevail. Approaching the daunting spectre of the lengthy Nad al Sheba straight, Childs made a bold move on Sunline, allowing her to stride a length clear but keeping her under the tightest of holds. When Childs finally shook the reins aboard the champion mare at the 350m, the response was tepid; more a slow increase in speed rather than lightning quick acceleration, her early exertions taking their toll. But while they may have blunted her sprint, nothing could take away the factors that separated her from so many of her peers: her tenacity and sheer determination. Inside the 250m, the New Zealanders had finally shaken off Slickly before a pair of ominous threats loomed out in the middle: Jim And Tonic was winding up gradually, while Fairy King Prawn was sprinting fast from a mile back. MAGNIFICENT MOSSE Sunline was first to tap out, although it was far from a submission. Somehow, from her freakish reserves, she managed to find something more when she was headed. Entitled to drop out, she stuck with her rivals but could not quite match Fairy King Prawn and Jim And Tonic. And so there were two. Fairy King Prawn, set an enormous task once the pace slackened and at the very upper reaches of his stamina, could get no more than a head in front before Jim And Tonic - seemingly struggling to quicken - hit top gear and matched strides. Heads up, heads down, the horse of Hong Kong and the French red, Fradd and Mosse, stretching every sinew as the post loomed. If the race was 1750m, it probably went the way of Fairy King Prawn. But Mosse, ever the master, lifted his horse at just the right time to take the prize — one of a dozen moves throughout the race that proved the difference between agonising defeat and precious victory. It was Jim And Tonic by a short neck, the extended margin failing to capture the gripping battle accurately. It may not have the wow factor of Dubai Millennium's Dubai World Cup victory a year earlier, but as far as racing battles go, it is one of the very finest. It was a race in which all three protagonists left with their reputations not just intact, but bolstered. And, for a young boy approaching his teens, watching the replay from Sydney, Australia, it fuelled a love for international racing that took me to all ends of the planet. Hopefully, the 2024 Dubai World Cup meeting may similarly inspire the next generation to embrace the internationalisation of our great sport. FOR A YOUNG BOY APPROACHING HIS TEENS, WATCHING THE REPLAY FROM SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, IT FUELLED A LOVE FOR INTERNATIONAL RACING THAT TOOK ME TO ALL ENDS OF THE PLANET. HOPEFULLY, THE 2024 DUBAI WORLD CUP MEETING MAY SIMILARLY INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION TO EMBRACE THE INTERNATIONAL NATURE OF OUR GREAT SPORT.
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