A fitting finish to an amazing race meeting. The 2018 Dubai World Cup goes to Thunder Snow. The S bin Suroor trained son of helmet was untouchable as he finished the race with more two lengths. As a trainer Saeed Bin Surror has been most impressive. He has won the Dubai World Cup for the eighth time this year.
Godolphin blue Shines in the sea of white at the Meydan Racecourse.
Trainer Surror said, “I am very happy with the horse and jockey. I told Christophe the horse has a good turn of foot and I told him to use it. The jockey is the best of the best.
“When I saw him he was confident in front and I thought surely the horse was going to win from then.
“We have the best owner in Sheikh Mohammed. He is the best leader and gives us the best horses. It is a brilliant win and I will give the trophy to my mother and brothers and family.
“It was always on my mind to run him in the Dubai World Cup and he will have a break now, before running in Europe or America.”
Jockey Christophe Soumillon said, “When I came in the straight I could feel nobody was following me. I knew I had to concentrate because when he sees the big screen, he can do something sometimes. It’s magic. I work hard every day to make sure someday something crazy like this will happen.
“Saeed gave me lot of confidence before the race. I wasn’t ready to ride him that positively and I thought there would be more speed on the inside. He jumped so well that I thought I would have to make it. The first time I rode him I thought that when he leads that no-one can beat him, but it is difficult to make it.
“However, it wasn’t that difficult in the end. Saeed did a great job and the horse made everything – it makes the jockey’s life so easy when ride you great horses. I’m in heaven now, I’m not sure exactly what’s going on but we’re going to have a big party tonight.”
B Baffert had a good outing in this race as his pupils captured the second and third spot behind Thunder Snow. The Javier Castellano ridden West Coast came in second and the Victor Espinoza ridden Mubtaahij came in third. The trainer Baffert said, “Since we started from the inside gate, I wanted to take the lead but the outside horses went faster then he found his stride. He was in better form than last year and he ran his race, but this is the Dubai World Cup, it is not easy.”
By Apurva Chavan, Racing Writer, apurva.chavan@secretariatsworld.com