Of all the barns that Mubtaahij could have walked into at Churchill Downs, he was allocated number 42.
The UAE Derby winner has been housed in numerically the most successful stable this week ahead of his bid in the Kentucky Derby in the early hours of Sunday morning, and the Mike de Kock camp is beginning to dream.
Secretariat and Seattle Slew launched their ultimately successful Triple Crown campaigns from Barn 42 in the 1970s.
Monarchos, the lightning fast grey; Smarty Jones, who narrowly failed to secure the Triple Crown in 2004; and the ill-fated Barbaro two years later are some of the 11 horses who have used Barn 42 previously.
There are many in Louisville, Kentucky, who believe that Mubtaahij can make it a dozen.
The career of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa’s first Derby runner has been a slow burner. He started off his racing in England, where he failed twice to make an impression on turf.
RELATED:
Mike De Kock confident Mubtaahij can make the step up from UAE Derby to Kentucky Derby
Kiaran McLaughlin stays hot on Frosted’s Kentucky Derby chance
Emirates Racing Authority expect downturn in positive tests due to more rigorous standards
De Kock and his colleagues had a debate about whether they should leave Mubtaahij in Newmarket or take him to Dubai. Even when he arrived at Blue Stables, De Kock felt the way with Mubtaahij.
He ran him in a non-Carnival maiden in December when he beat Year Of Glory.
The first glimpse that he might be a top-class international dirt performer was in the UAE 2,000 Guineas trial. In that race, Mubtaahij posted a time of 1 minute 24.86 seconds, two-and-a-half seconds faster than Local Time, who won the 1,000 Guineas Trial on the same card.
The previous week, older horses such as Faulkner and subsequent Godolphin Mile winner Tamarkuz went through the same 1,400 metres in 1.25.08, which led some of those ahead of the curve to consider Mubtaahij a special talent.
It was when Year Of Glory won a maiden in a non-Carnival event two days later that momentum started building.
Year Of Glory won just after 3pm Dubai time, when America was just waking up. Pat Cummings, director of racing information for Trakus, the sectional timings experts, saw the result and decided to call De Kock.
“I looked at the sectional times provided by Trakus and I thought they matched up well to the older horses that had been running at the Carnival,” Cummings said from Louisville.
“I then looked at the times to the 1,000 Guineas Trial and Mubtaahij’s time absolutely wrecked the fillies. When Year Of Glory then won his maiden I called up Mike, who was at the Cape Thoroughbred Sales, and simply told him the facts.
“To make the entry there and then meant to get in the race it would cost US$600 (Dh2,200), whereas if he had waited a day it would have been $6,000.”
While Mubtaahij’s UAE Derby win was impressive, it is fair to say that the race fell apart for him. The Japanese raiders Golden Barows, Tap That, Dear Domus and Godolphin’s Sir Fever all ripped through the first 1,200 metres going at similar pace to the older horses who ran over 100 metres shorter in the Dubai Turf later in the night.
Where the Japanese raiders could not sustain that ferocious pace, Mubtaahij picked up the pieces a mile gone and actually accelerated for a few hundred metres to go eight lengths clear before he was eased down to be the most impressive UAE Derby winner since De Kock’s Asiatic Boy routed the field by nine and a half lengths in 2007.
It was preparation that will stand him in good stead tomorrow. There are at least six front-runners in the Kentucky Derby field, including Bob Baffert’s unbeaten Dortmund.
The pace is going to be fast and furious, and it remains to be seen whether the guts and determination Mubtaahij has shown in Dubai will be enough to be taking on the best in America.
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE
