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.
It’s entirely possible that Laurel River managed to upstage that effort at Meydan on Saturday with an absolutely stunning, front-running tour-de-force in the US$12 million Gr1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan.
Juddmonte Farms, the same operation that campaigned Arrogate, elected to transfer their homebred son of the all-conquering Into Mischief from America to the Dubai-based stable of Bhupat Seemar in the summer of 2023.
To say things were off to an inauspicious beginning would be an understatement of monumental proportions, as Laurel River faded tamely to finish seventh in the Gr3 Al Shindagha Sprint (1200m) in late January, but he bounced back to post an equally emphatic victory in the Gr3 Burj Nahaar (1600m) on Super Saturday to punch his ticket to World Cup night.
Tadhg O’Shea celebrates as Laurel River adds his name to the Dubai World Cup honour roll (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Conventional wisdom dictates that winning the Burj Nahaar leads to a start in the Godolphin Mile over the same course and distance on the big night, but Seemar and the Juddmonte braintrust called an audible and routed the six-year-old to the Dubai World Cup instead: a race 12 times as valuable, but incrementally more challenging on a few levels, not least the 2000-metre distance of the race.
After drawing 12 of 12 at Wednesday’s barrier draw at the Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa, many would have downgraded the chances of Laurel River.
And yet Saturday evening, the homebred decisively surged into a clear lead at the midway stage and went on to score by eight and a half lengths, breaking that particular record held by the legendary Dubai Millennium, who won the 2000 World Cup at Nad al Sheba by six lengths.
Trainer Bhupat Seemar said: “I’m still coming to terms with what’s happened. I think it’ll probably sink in in another day or two. It’s absolutely amazing. Tadhg said this morning ‘we’re drawn 12, I’m not going to be two-minded about it, I’m going to go forward.’
“He’s got so much natural pace. He comes out of the gate and this is why we ran him over six furlongs (in the Al Shindagha).
“Tadhg was able to get some easy fractions and then I saw Defunded coming on his outside but he just kept on going further. I expected to see all the closers flying at him but he kept going.
“I was a small kid when I was watching these colours winning some of the biggest races in the world. What the late Prince Khalid Abdullah has done for racing is amazing, I couldn’t believe I was going to be training the horse for that farm and in those colours. And now to win one of the world’s great races for them is unbelievable.”
The horses who finished in Laurel River’s wake Saturday amplified just how impressive his victory was. Last year’s winner Ushba Tesoro raced far back for the opening 1600 metres, but wound up with his customary late run to finish second, just beating out recent Saudi Cup winner Senor Buscador for the US$2.4 million second prize. Senor Buscador added to his US$10 million payday in Riyadh with a nifty check for US$1.2 million.
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Added O’Shea: “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.”
