Dubai: The mood for this year's Dubai World Cup was set on Super Thursday (March 5) with only two of the Pick Seven favourites living up to expectations. The final day of the 10-race 2009 Dubai International Racing Carnival threw up a few interesting names that have all likelihood of ending in the winners' enclosure on Saturday.
Heading this list is Asiatic Boy and City Style after they won their respective races for South African trainer Mike de Kock and Saeed Bin Surour respectively, both of whom went on to end the night with a double each. However, the most impressive winners on Thursday night were Snaafy and Gayego.
Godolphin's Gayego came up with an eye-catching run in the six-furlong Mahab Al Shamal to brace for his biggest test tonight in the Godolphin Mile. Stablemate Diabolical under Ted Durcan and Jerry Barton's Big City Man under Jose Verenzuela were the favoured duo, but Ted Durcan kept the Godolphin debutant within striking distance approaching the final two furlongs.
However, it was in the final furlong that Gayego displayed his class as he caught up and left behind Big City Man with his strong, powerful strides to win well, giving Bin Surour enough to smile about.
De Kock recorded a big double at the end of the penultimate round of the Carnival the previous week when his J.J. The Jet Plane and Archipenko won the two Group 3 races on offer to share honours with Bin Surour.
Joining De Kock and Bin Surour were Kevin Shea and Lanfranco Dettori as they finished off with a double each, while apprentice jockey Antocio Murgia's dream run continued with another win for the Italian for trainer Mubarak Bin Shafya. Others to shine in the penultimate race meeting of the Dubai International Racing Carnival were trainers Luca Cumani, Eve Johnson Houghton and Pascal Bary.
South African trainer Herman Brown bagged the Balanchine with My Central under John Murtagh, who went on to register a double along with trainer Mike de Kock and jockey Richard Mullen.
My Central showed a fine turn of foot and unleashed a brilliant run in the final furlong to score a big win for Brown, with fellow countryman de Kock's Front House in second. Jerry Barton's Deem, unbeaten in four starts and a favourite in this Group 3 race for fillies and mares, finished fifth.
Brown's second runner in the feature event finished third and the delighted trainer said, "With about a furlong to go, I though Happy Spirit [Ryan Moore up] had a chance, but that was a great ride from Johnny [Murtagh]. The horses are slowly getting into form."
The seventh race meeting of the Carnival witnessed Emirati trainer Mubarak Khalifa Bin Shafya make the best of the blank night by the big guys De Kock and Bin Surour to shine on the international stage as his apprentice jockey went on to record an international win in only his first year as trainer.
Taking part of the glory was jockey Antocio Murgia as he rode Dijeerr to victory for Bin Shafya. But the best was yet to come as he produced two more winners with Royston Ffrench, who made the most of the spare rides in the absence of Ahmad Ajtebi (serving a ban for careless riding) winning the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort on Gladiatorus and on Eastern Anthem.
The sixth race meeting belonged to Godolphin as Bin Surour and Dettori won four of the seven races including the Gulf News-sponsored UAE 2000 Guineas to send a strong signal worldwide of what to expect.
The race was expected to be a battle between the horses of Bin Surour and de Kock and after four races it almost looked like a penalty shoot-out. De Kock fired the first salvo when Warsaw, fourth to Asset on his Nad Al Sheba debut, came good with a convincing win in the GNAds4U Handicap under Johnny Murtagh.
But Bin Surour struck when Dettori on Yamal proved the four-year-old Green Desert son was equally adept on dirt, winning the 4Men Trophy on his debut run on the surface here.
Midway through the season, it was Godolphin extending their dominant display with three more winners even as So Shiny stole the limelight for Saudi-based trainer Jerry Barton, bagging the first Classic of the 2009 Dubai International Racing carnival - the UAE 1,000 Guineas.
Godolphin trainer Bin Surour reached double figures with his three-timer, bringing his tally to 10 for the all-blue colours.
Though it was Godolphin's pair of Devotee and SOS Brillante who were the favourites in the UAE 1,000 Guineas, it was So Shiny coming ahead of Japanese campaigner Earth Living.
A week earlier, it was a superbly executed ride by Dettori on My Indy in the Group 3 Al Maktoum Challenge (Round Two) that had brought the Godolphin runner into the frame for the Group 1 Dubai World Cup at the end of the fourth race meeting.
The four-year-old from trainer Bin Surour's yard scored a popular win to finish ahead of Happy Boy under Emirati jockey Ahmad Ajtebi while favourite Asiatic Boy's third-place finish had shocked racing fans here.
Later, a Godolphin double sent trainer Bin Surour and jockey Dettori to the top of the Carnival table while Saudi-based trainer Jerry Barton's Deem stayed unbeaten with a superb run in the Dubai International Racing Carnival.
It had taken South African trainer de Kock two weeks of racing here to reaffirm his dominance in the Carnival.
And leading the way was Night Mist by claiming the Group 3 Al Rashidiya. The UAE's champion trainer Doug Watson and Ryan Moore had also recorded doubles the same week.
De Kock, who has been the most consistent of the trainers since the Carnival was unveiled, picked up the first featured race on turf here but attributed his horse's success to a terrific late effort by jockey Kevin Shea.
The South African had three good runners in the Dubai Aluminium-sponsored feature of the night, but Shea, his first jockey, chose Night Mist ahead of Hunting Tower and Royal Vintage, and the six-year-old grey gelding was up to the task.
The second meeting in the Carnival saw Jerry Barton-trained Big City Man impressing a second time with the $200,000 Al Shindagha Sprint (Group 3) sponsored by Al Tayer Motors. But having the last laugh was a quartet of Emirati trainers and jockey with wins to their credit.
A smart winner on debut here a fortnight ago, Big City Man under Jose Verenzuela scored an emphatic win, his fifth successive one, and installed himself as a strong contender for tonight's $2 million Gulf News-sponsored Dubai Golden Shaheen.
The 12-strong field was virtually reduced to a two-horse race as Big City Man finished ahead of Star Crown, who was third in last year's Gulf News-sponsored Dubai Golden Shaheen (Group 1), while de Kock's South African multiple Group 3 winner Diana's Choice finished over six length's behind the duo.
My Indy gave Godolphin the perfect start to their 2009 campaign at Nad Al Sheba with an easy win in the Maktoum Challenge I over 1,600 metres on dirt in the hands of Frankie Dettori.
Dettori and Saeed Bin Surour registered a double after Sos Brillante, their first runner of the campaign, won a 1,400 metres dirt conditions race for three-year-old fillies.
Mike de Kock, trainer of more carnival winners than anybody, had Silver Mist open his 2009 account in style when winning the 1,500-metre turf handicap in the hands of Kevin Shea.
Emirati Mubarak Bin Shafya made his presence felt with a fantastic double.
Ahmad Ajtebi's ambition to ride in the world's richest race was fuelled on the opening night of the 2009 Dubai International Racing Carnival when he partnered ex-Godolphin horse Third Set to win the Green Desert handicap, one of the two wins for Bin Shafya.
More than 200 horses from 16 countries competed for over $31 million in prize-money during the Carnival with many horses proving themselves as runners for the biggest reward of them all.