Thunder Snow sets course record in Dubai World Cup romp

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The last time he ran in a major dirt race, Thunder Snow didn’t even make it a quarter-mile. The eyes of the racing world trained on Churchill Downs, Thunder Snow broke from the gate in the Kentucky Derby, ran a few strides, and decided not to participate. Throwing his head about wildly, he was pulled up by jockey Christophe Soumillon.

Thunder Snow might have stopped in the Derby, but there was no stopping him Saturday night in the Dubai World Cup.

A year after Arrogate ran through the rain here to win, Thunder Snow, on a sweltering night, made it rain.

Despite breaking from post 10, and thanks to speedy North America totally blowing the start, Thunder Snow made it all the way over to a golden rail before hitting the first of two turns. He led after a quarter-mile, and he still led after 1 1/4 miles, clipping home a whopping 5 3/4 lengths clear of odds-on favorite West Coast, who had his chance at the winner but was farther behind him at the finish than he had been at the top of the stretch.

“Thunder Snow, he just ran them off their feet,” said West Coast’s trainer, Bob Baffert.

Baffert finished two-three, with Mubtaahij just a neck behind West Coast. In fourth was Pavel, and then came Forever Unbridled, Awardee, Furia Cruzada, Gunnevera, Talismanic, and North America.

Pavel was caught four wide on the backstretch and far turn, Forever Unbridled five paths off the fence; both ran well in defeat. Talismanic, the Breeders’ Cup Turf winner who was trying dirt for the first time, stalked the pace but never really got in the fight.

Thunder Snow ran 2000 meters (just over 1 1/4 miles) in 2:01.38. That was a course record – the fourth dirt mark to fall Saturday night on a track that was obviously very fast.

As Soumillon described his trip during a post-race press conference, Saeed bin Suroor, the longtime Godolphin trainer, strode into the interview room. Trainer and rider had been given the golden riding crops awarded victorious World Cup connections. Bin Suroor proudly brandished his before the media: “This is number eight!” he said.

Indeed, bin Suroor had seven World Cup wins before Thunder Snow bolted home Saturday; his first came with Almutawakel way back in 1999, one year after Baffert won his first World Cup with Silver Charm. While this glory was old hat for the trainer, Soumillon, the Belgian-born jockey who has wintered in Dubai for several seasons, needed nine tries to win his first World Cup.

Baffert, gracious in defeat, claimed his horses raced over a fair-playing track surface, but three of the five dirt races Saturday went to horses that led from the start, a fourth to a horse that pressed the pace and took over with more than a quarter-mile left to race, and running positions for the entire World Cup field scarcely changed through the entire homestretch. Mind Your Biscuits, who came from last in the Golden Shaheen, was the only horse to make up meaningful ground all night.

With North America out of the game, Thunder Snow was able to cross and clear with relative ease.

“I was surprised to see nobody really challenged me,” Soumillon said. “I was quite easy in front on the backstretch, and I was also surprised to see no one was trying to put some pressure on me. My horse was really relaxed like he likes.”

West Coast raced outside Thunder Snow, Mubtaahij behind him, but when Javier Castellano on the former and Victor Espinoza on the latter got to work on their mounts approaching the homestretch, Soumillon hadn’t yet asked Thunder Snow.

“On the backstretch, I had a good feeling, like nobody could touch me at the time,” Soumillon said. “When I came in the last turn I was really confident; I feel no one coming around me. In the stretch, I was hoping that it wasn’t like last year in the Derby.”

A year ago, finishing strongly in the UAE Derby, Thunder Snow had shied badly from the huge video board inside the track, his serpentine course nearly costing him victory. Quirky this horse can be, for sure, and no one ever could really figure out what caused his obstinate behavior in the Kentucky Derby, for which he looked a reasonable hope.

Thunder Snow went on to win the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat in July, and his flop last fall in the Queen Elizabeth II stakes was soft-ground related. He was shipped to Dubai for a winter campaign with the World Cup in mind, but his chances looked slimmer after North America beat him 5 1/4 lengths March 10 in Round 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge. That day, North America stole off to a clear lead, but this time, with $10 million on the line, it was Thunder Snow who found the front – and the pot of gold.

Thunder Snow is a 4-year-old homebred by Helmet out of Eastern Joy, by Dubai Destination. He won for the seventh time in 18 starts, and has options, following a break, both in Europe and North America this year.

For instance, Churchill Downs is the site of the 2018 Breeders’ Cup. Thunder Snow has unfinished business there.