DUBAI // Arrogate may be the world’s highest rated thoroughbred, but he needed the riding masterclass of Mike Smith to clinch the US$10 million Dubai World Cup on a cold, windy and rainy night at the Meydan racecourse on Saturday.
Arrogate stumbled and missed the start and trailed the 14-runner field early on before storming back to win the 2,000-metre race with a convincing distance on an energy-sapping, muddy racetrack.
By the time Smith had caught up with the pack, the Unbridled’s Song colt was coated in mud beyond recognition.
“When we got to the top of the straight I thought we had a big shot, a really big shot. He’s just amazing,” said Smith, who eased Arrogate towards the finish to beat two other American raiders: Gun Runner by two lengths and Neolithic by a further five.
“He was slipping and sliding from the word ‘go’. Once I got to the outside and he was straightened out, he levelled out.
“And I made up five lengths so quick, I thought ‘OK, we are here’. And now I just tried to be patient and not lose ground and let everybody work their way in, so that I didn’t have to check out too wide and it worked out great.
“This horse can go dead fast or dead slow, and just look at him — he doesn’t look like he’s taken a breath.
“It is hard to say. He is used to some different things. Whatever happened it happened for a reason. It made him much more impressive. If that hadn’t happened it might have been a boring race, but that was an unbelievable race.”
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Read more
■ The race night as it happened
■ Results | Arrogate wins main event
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Arrogate’s trainer, Bob Baffert, was all praise for his jockey.
“Mike was patient with him but down the back I had no hope at all,” Baffert said. “Great horse, great jockey and a great team I have behind me.”
Florent Geroux, rider of runner-up Gun Runner, conceded they were beaten by a champion.
“I was travelling as well as I could have hoped turning in and thought we had a great chance of victory until Arrogate arrived and he was just awesome,” Geroux said.
Ron Winchell, the owner of Gun Runner, said: “He ran into a buzz saw. I thought we had a chance there when Arrogate was left in the back, but he ran great to be second. He always tries.”
John Velazquez, the jockey on third-placed Neolithic, said of the winner: “My God he is out of this world.”
Mubtaahij, last year’s runner-up, could finish only fourth under Christophe Soumillon, who rode a double on the night.
“Every time he runs he gives you his all and that was the same today. I got a good sit on him from a poor draw and he ran his heart out,” Soumillon said of his ride.
Mike De Kock, the Mubtaahij trainer, said: “It was a super-human effort to get over from stall 14 and you can rely on him with the accuracy of a Swiss watch.
“If he comes out of this OK I’m very keen to take him to Hong Kong and have a crack at the QEII Cup.”
apassela@thenational.ae
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