Dibona eyes Monmouth Cup for Steal Sunshine after Godolphin Mile stretch rally
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Nobody who participated in Saturday’s Dubai World Cup program had more of a right to be thinking “what could have been” at the end of their race than trainer Bobby Dibona, who watched his Steal Sunshine finish fourth despite breaking far behind the field in the Godolphin Mile.
Steal Sunshine, who finished second to the odds-on Mindframe after a very eventful beginning of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile here five weeks earlier, dropped nearly 20 lengths off the early leaders in the run down the backstretch of the Godolphin Mile. He ultimately improved his position along the inside in the long homestretch to finish 5 1/2 lengths behind race winner Raging Torrent and just two lengths behind runner-up King Gold.
Steal Sunshine was ridden for the first time by Christophe Lemaire in the Godophin Mile. He replaced regular jockey Paco Lopez, who was originally supposed to be aboard but had to cancel his trip due to documentation issues, according to Dibona.
“I had the horse well prepared. He ran great, I was happy with everything. He just blew the break,” Dibona said Monday. “Obviously, it didn’t help [that] we had a new rider, but I give him [Lemaire] a lot of credit for not losing confidence and just throwing in the towel after the bad start, which I’ve seen happen so many times before. I thought he rode a big, strong race.
“The same thing happened when we ran against Mindframe. He didn’t break as poorly, but got roughed up pretty good after the start. I think if he came away clean, we might have won both races.”
Dibona said the 6-year-old Steal Sunshine came out of the race well. He was scheduled to leave Dubai on Wednesday morning for Kentucky, where he’ll remain in quarantine for several days before heading to the farm for a three- to four-week layoff.
“The whole trip was such a tremendous experience. They really roll out the red carpet for you over there,” Dibona said of Dubai. “I got to watch a lot of international trainers doing their thing and realized just how many ways there are to get the job done in this business.”
Dibona, who will again be stabled locally throughout the summer, said at the moment he is looking at the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup going 1 1/8 miles on July 19 as the most likely option for Steal Sunshine’s next start.
Steal Sunshine was the most successful of the three locally based horses to compete in Dubai on Saturday. Making his first start in more than seven months in the Dubai World Cup at odds of 150-1, Il Miracolo also turned in a big effort, finishing fifth while beaten less than six lengths by Hit Show. Meanwhile, Super Chow checked home ninth in the Dubai Golden Shaheen.
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