Dubai: Trainer Aidan O'Brien's Wrote started the UAE Derby as the favourite, but it was stablemate Daddy Long Legs who reached home first and is now looking a certainty to tackle the Kentucky Derby.
After Godolphin's Australian debutant Helmet had done most of the running, Colm O'Donoghue reminded the three-year-old Scat Daddy colt with about two furlongs left.
Showing a fine turn of foot, Daddy Long Legs switched gears and was soon off despite Yang Tse Kiang making a determined bid.
Wrote, under Ryan Moore, finished third and Mike de Kock's Mickdaam, winner of the prep race on Super Saturday, was fourth.
"This is such a great moment for me. This is absolutely satisfying," O'Brien said. "It's a great privilege to be able to come here. It's very prestigious for a horse to be able to win here so I'm delighted. He's a lovely horse. He was a Royal Lodge winner last year," he said.
First run
"This is his first run here and if he has any chances then it has to be at the Kentucky Derby. He is such a beautiful horse. He has simply gone on improving with each race, what more can I say? Last year at the Breeder's Cup he was all at sea, but this time he has shown how capable he is.
"We were thinking to come here with the view to going to the Kentucky Derby if they ran well. Ryan's horse [Wrote] ran well but got a little tired.
"But Colm's horse [Daddy Long Legs] travelled well and finished really strong. I'm sure the lads will speak about it but I'd imagine he's a definite possible for the USA."
Winning jockey O'Donoghue said: "I was very confident about this horse going into this race. I have great respect for all the other horses, but today he showed that he has got the guts to take on the best anytime.
"He quickened really well. It's a great training effort by Aidan [O'Brien] to win this in his first run of the season against horses that were already primed and at their best. Hopefully he can keep improving from this. I think he can."
Affected his chances
Mickdaam jockey Christophe Soumillon said his horse had a bad start and that affected its chances. "He wasn't ready when the starter let them go. The horse next to him came over and crashed into him. He lost any chance," the Frenchman said. The race marked the first running of the UAE Derby that was not won by Godolphin's Saeed Bin Surour (seven-time winner), who did not have a runner this year, or South Africa's Mike de Kock (five-time winner), who saddled Mickdaam.
— With additional inputs from Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter, and Ashley Hammond, Staff Reporter
