Thunder Snow nabs second Dubai World Cup

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Charlie Appleby set the table and Saeed bin Suroor cleared the decks. Godolphin’s two Dubai trainers landed a one-two-three-four punch on Dubai World Cup night. Appleby won three of the preliminaries before bin Suroor sent Thunder Snow out to become the first two-time winner of the Group 1, $12 million Dubai World Cup.

As he has eight times before, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and ruler of Godlphin, got his own trophy. Bin Suroor also notched his ninth World Cup, eight for Godolphin after he trained Almutawakel for Hamdan al Maktoum.

That’s a lot of World Cups, but until Saturday all the Sheikh Mo and Saeed wins had come with different horses, as had every other World Cup, but Thunder Snow changed that, if just barely.

A romping front-end winner a year ago, Thunder Snow got everything he could handle Saturday night from the upstart Gronkowski, who had the tougher trip of the pair and refused to yield. Thunder Snow, attacking under Christophe Soumillon with 300 meters to go, edged to the lead in the final half-furlong, but Gronkowski was coming back on him again at the finish and the margin of Thunder Snow’s second World Cup victory came in at about one inch. Winning time for the 2000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) on a fast track was 2:03.87.

“He made history tonight,” said bin Suroor.

The top pair finished well clear of the rest. Gunnevera, who lagged last much of the trip, had to be encouraged with jockey Emisael Jaramillo’s crop with a half-mile still to run, but finally got into a rhythm on the far outside and was third by a half-length over Pavel, who improved upon his 2018 World Cup performance. Then came Audible and Yoshida, who broke awkwardly and was tapped on the shoulder by jockey Jose Ortiz just after the start out for position he failed to sufficiently establish. In seventh was North America, who broke like a rocket this year after missing the start in the 2018 World Cup, got the clear lead he needs for the best, but backed off tamely after being taken on early by Gronkowski. Seeking the Soul was eighth followed by Axelrod, New Trails, Dolkong, and Capezzano.

Capezzano tried for the lead, failed to make it, and tossed his head wildly when stuck behind horses, but his trainer, Salem bin Ghadayer (who returned from a one-year medication suspension March 8), had Gronkowski set on tilt. Known as a deep closer during the American phase of his career, and a flat fifth March 9 in his Dubai debut, Gronkowski broke alertly under Oisin Murphy, who saw Capezzano fail to challenge North America and decided to take on the job himself. Moving three wide around Thunder Snow into the turn, Gronkowski latched onto the pacesetter midway round the bend and wouldn’t let go.

That left Thunder Snow, who broke from post 11 after K T Brave was scratched early Saturday, in a perfect spot, tracking the two leaders from third. There he sat until upper stretch, when Soumillon asked Thunder Snow to go get Gronkowski.

Now, Thunder Snow has his mental issues, we know: This is the horse who bucked his way out of the 2017 Kentucky Derby yards into the race. But Thunder Snow is talented and game, and he bulled his way to a narrow lead before another quirk surfaced – his tendency to wait after making the lead.

“I was really asking him to make the lead and finally he did it and I said, ‘No, you have to go further,’” Soumillon said.

Thunder Snow went just far enough. Gronkowski, despite trouncing North America and batting Thunder Snow, still somehow galloped out in front of him past the wire. But Thunder Snow galloped into the record books, adding the second World Cup to his win in the 2017 UAE Derby on the World Cup undercard.

Thunder Snow, a 5-year-old homebred, is by Helmet out of Eastern Joy, by Dubai Destination, a pedigree suggesting a turf sprinter/miler. Thunder Snow is much more than that, and his career earnings now stand at $16.4 million. Bin Suroor, who insisted all week Thunder Snow would improve sharply off a fading second March 9 in Round 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge, said the horse would likely skip any sort of European turf campaign to focus on American dirt racing, perhaps during the summer at Saratoga, if not just a fall campaign geared around the BC Classic.

The Appleby wing of Godolphin landed the Gold Cup, the Al Quoz, and the Sheema Classic before it was World Cup time Saturday, and it has been Appleby with more prominent stakes winners this winter in Dubai. But in the biggest race of the season – the richest race in the world – it was the Saeed string that thundered.