Dubai World Cup: Soft Falling Rain in seventh heaven after winning the Godolphin Mile
Three-year-old bay colt secures seventh win from seven starts
Dubai: Jockey Paul Hanagan shrugged off the disappointment of finishing second in the opening event of the Dubai World Cup, the Kahayla Classic, by winning the Godolphin Mile on three-year-old bay colt Soft Falling Rain.
Extraordinarily, it was the Mike de Kock-trained horse’s seventh win in seven starts.
The retained jockey of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler and Minister of Finance, had been beaten on the finishing line in the Kahayla Classic for Purebred Arabians Group One by Christophe Soumillon’s Al Mamun Monlau.
But in the very next race, the first of the eight for thoroughbreds, Hanagan experienced what he termed the best moment of his life when he and Soft Falling Rain surged home ahead of Haatheq under Royston Ffrench.
“It was an amazing race and great thrill. It ranked with my best ever wins. Before this, my best was on Mayson in the July Cup last year,” said Hanagan, who kept his horse handily placed but only made his move with about 400 metres to go.
Another Shaikh Hamdan runner, Haatheq, and Godolphin’s Alpha were doing battle at the front when Hanagan brought Soft Falling Rain up on the outside and soon it was a fight between the two Shaikh Hamdan horses.
But Soft Falling Rain maintained her unbeaten run to secure only the second win in the Group Two contest for De Kock, the first coming in 2005 with Grand Emporium.
Hanagan added: “It took him a while to adjust to the pace. But once he got going, he just went for it. It is such a thrill to be part of such a race. It has been an amazing experience and I have hardly had time to go through the race in my mind. This is one of my best win ever [wins].”
The South African handler De Kock said the next move for the highly talented son of National Assembly would be Europe.
“I am simply blown away with this win. Nothing really compares to this. He has shown the real mark of a champion and this is a huge one for him,” De Kock said soon after the win.
“He was battling around all the while and then he simply goes that extra bit and comes on top. This shows he knows how to win. For sure, he goes to Europe next,” the winning trainer said.
“He will go to Royal Ascot and we will enter him in the Queen Anne Stakes and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes,” De Kock added.
Haatheq completed a 1-2 for Shaikh Hamdan, and Ffrench said: “It was an incredible race and he ran his heart out. I’m delighted for Shaikh Hamdan that he finished first and second, but I obviously wish it had gone my way.”
