REVIEW / DUBAI WORLD CUP 8 ADIYAT RACING PLUS ISSUE 840 Thursday 4th April 2024 adiyat racing plus.com horse for that farm and in those colours. And now to win one of the world’s great races for them is unbelievable.” When Arrogate overcame a world of trouble to win the 2017 Dubai World Cup, many racing fans said it was the best performance in the history of the race, and in a broader sense, one of the best performances ever seen. Seemar and Juddmonte Farms, the same operation that campaigned Arrogate, rerouted the six-year-old to the Dubai World Cup instead: a contest 12 times as valuable, but incrementally more challenging on a few levels, not least the 2000m distance of the race. For O’Shea, the support of his stable and Juddmonte, gave him the confidence to carry out his gameplan. He said: “I’ve been fortunate enough to have had Dubai World Cup night winners but you don’t get many opportunities and I’m going to be forever grateful to Juddmonte for keeping me on the horse, they could use anyone and they’re a worldwide operation that’s really successful. “When he had his first run for the stable we thought he’d disappointed, but we never lost faith. He was explosive last time and I said the other morning to Bhupat, I pulled him aside and said, I’d never ridden a horse with his ability ever. And he’d just done an easy work on his own. “With the dirt you can’t be half-hearted, you have to go forward. If he didn’t stay, he didn’t stay. We were aware of that. The main thing that won the race, it’s easy to say when you win, but I was able to keep filling him up and filling him up.” Another prominent local hope and strong fancy, Kabirkhan, failed to fire with rider Pat Dobbs accepting the situation some way from home. “He was beaten a long way out. I knew leaving the back straight he wasn’t the same horse as before,” said Dobbs. Yuga Kawada, rider of last year’s winner Ushba Tesoro, was already eyeing future targets after steering the defending champion into an honourable second. He said: “He was in good form and he ran his race. It was a good run. We managed to beat Senor Buscador today but the winner was too fast and stayed really well in front. We will be prepared for the Breeders’ Cup and I believe Del Mar will suit him better than Santa Anita.” Todd Fincher, trainer of Saudi Cup winner and third home, Senor Buscador said: “He brings it every time, he ran a really good race. He might have started his run a little early trying to catch Laurel River and maybe that cost us a placing. Hats off to Laurel River, he freaked on everybody there. “We were hoping there would be a little pace in there, but Laurel River is a nice horse and you’re not going to catch a horse like that if he gets loose. That’s what we’re up against, he’s got to have some pace to run at. It’s very rare in a Grade 1 race that there’s no pace, but we are very proud of him.” RESULTS 1. Laurel River (Seemar/O’Shea) 2. Ushba Tesoro (Takagi/Kawada) 3. Senor Buscador (Fincher/Alvarado) HE WAS BEATEN A LONG WAY OUT. I KNEW LEAVING THE BACK STRAIGHT HE WASN’T THE SAME HORSE AS BEFORE — PAT DOBBS ON KABIRKHAN. In the spotlight: Seemar and O’Shea
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