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The Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan got off to an inauspicious note for Singapore after its first runner Quechua finished out of the placings in the US$1 million Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup (3200m) on Saturday.
The Ricardo Le Grange-trained Argentinian-bred travelled in an ideal spot three pairs back for jockey Barend Vorster, but when race-leader Big Orange (Frankie Dettori) upped the tempo at the 800m, the first signals of distress flared up.
The Singapore Gold Cup-Singapore Derby winner noticeably started to backpedal. Sensing they were conceding ground, Vorster tried to ask for another rally with a crack of the whip, but it was already a lost cause.
Quechua compounded completely to finish 12th while upfront, the race was turning into a riveting last 100m between two horses. Beautiful Romance (Oisin Murphy) looked to have the race all sewn up with Sheikhzayedroad (Martin Harley) safely held, but last year’s Dubai Gold Cup winner Vazirabad (Christophe Soumillon) was not going to let his crown slip away as he overcame a less than ideal trip at the rear to gather steam when it mattered.
Beautiful Romance dug deep but could not thwart the Aga Khan horse who got up by a neck. Local favourite Sheikhzayedroad did well to hang on for third spot another 1 ½ lengths away. The winning time was 3 mins 22.52secs about four seconds outside Brown Panther’s record and three seconds outside Vazirabad’s own timing in last year’s Dubai Gold Cup when he defeated Big Orange by a neck.
This year, the bold Irish stayer ran his heart out in his customary leading role again, to finish fourth around two lengths off Vazirabad.
In the Singapore camp, the mood was obviously less celebratory, but Le Grange was accepting the defeat graciously, saying the Pure Prize six-year-old just did not stay the two miles. Quechua has never ventured beyond 2200m back at Kranji.
“He just didn’t stay. He had a beautiful run, Barend had him in a good spot, but at the half-mile when he dug him up, there was nothing left in the tank,” said Le Grange.
“I’m still proud of his effort.”
Quechua’s former trainer Patrick Shaw and Le Grange’s former master, was also on hand at the parade ring together with the Singapore entourage made up of Avengers Stable owners Mark and Emily Young and their two sons.
The semi-retired South African, who used to train Quechua and had his yard taken over by Le Grange in December, had said before the race that he had never seen Quechua in a better shape. To the experienced horseman, he maintained the horse was at his peak, but the distance found him out.
“He’s a 2200-2400 max, that’s my opinion. We got an invite, we had to go, you haven’t got a ticket, you haven’t got a chance and we had a go,” he said matter-of-factly.
“We tried and it never worked. Ricky will have to go back to the drawing board.”
Vorster endorsed Le Grange’s and Shaw’s statements about Quechua’s lack of stamina, saying the gelding was already out of his comfort zone from the half-mile.
“I had him in a beautiful position in the running, but at the 800m, and 500m-600m, when I asked for him to quicken, there was nothing there,” said the South African jockey.
“He had every chance, but he just didn’t stay.”
Winning jockey Christophe Soumillon was delighted he had doubled up with Vazirabad, but admitted to feeling the title defence was in serious jeopardy when the son of Manduro did not begin all that well and was not responding to his cues for most of the way.
“I thought we were in trouble; I was not sure if he could not handle the going to be honest. He was off the bridle but at the last turn, he came back on the bit straightaway,” said the Belgian ace.
“I could feel he was ready to change his legs. Fortunately, he came late as he also needs a target to chase.
“That was why I had to shift him to the inside towards the leader (Beautiful Romance) just to make him react and chase. We were also lucky the leader started to shorten strides and we got him on the line.
“If I had to compare the two wins, the ground was heavy this year whereas it was better last year, when he showed a better turn of foot. He still has this tendency to stop when he hits the front, but he is very genuine.”
Soumillon might have denied Godolphin of glory in the Dubai Gold Cup, but would have straightaway been forgiven by the Boys in Blue when he landed a race-to-race double aboard one of their horses, the well-backed Thunder Snow for Saeed bin Suroor in the US$2 million Group 2 UAE Derby (1900m).
Again, Soumillon showcased his masterful touch when Japan’s Epicharis ridden by the other “Christophe” Lemaire was not giving an inch of ground on the inside.
The last 250m turned into a titanic battle between the two horses. Epicharis was always a winner until the last 20m when Soumillon adroitly rebalanced his horse to push him right on the line for a most dramatic last-gasp win.
Top French trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre added another dimension to Vazirabad’s back-to-back wins by touching on his fitness level this year.
“Last year, he did not have a good preparation. He was a bit fresh, he won because he’s good,” said de Royer-Dupre.
“He had more time to recover for another run this time, with four weeks between runs.
“He is a special horse and has a strong turn of foot. Before he was gelded, he was quite impossible to train.
“I remember he first ran at Longchamp after the operation, and did nothing. He then went okay, and he has blossomed since.”
One part of the world which was really blossoming at the 2017 Dubai World Cup night were the French camp (Belgians are like their next-door cousins).
Just after Soumillon’s feat, another French jockey, the lesser-known Francois-Xavier (better known as FX) Bertras, who rides in the South-West of France, combined with the similarly lesser-known French trainer Didier Guillemin in steering the unfancied The Right Man to another narrow win in the US$1 million Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint (1200m) on turf from US sprinter Long On Value (Joel Rosario).
Amazing Kids who was rated as Hong Kong’s and Joao Moreira’s best chance of a win in Dubai, never flattered from barrier one, struggling to raise a gallop when they sprinted away, plodding on to finish sixth.
Singapore is now clinging its hopes onto its second contender, the Cliff Brown-trained Debt Collector in the US$6 million Group 1 Dubai Turf (1800m) later at 7.30pm Dubai time.