Dubai
The 1999 Dubai World Cup will be remembered for two reasons: the prize money for the race was boosted from $4m (Dh14.69m) to $5m and the incredible, yet surprise win of Almutawakel in the face of some stiff resistance.
Going into the race at 44-1 and considered a heavy underdog, it was Almutawakel holding his own and with jockey Richard Hills at the helm, won the race by ¾ lengths beating several prominent horses such as Malek, Silver Charm, Daylami and Victory Gallop.
There was a well-documented incident surrounding the choice of jockey for Almutawakel. While Bin Surour was the trainer, Frankie Dettori had the first choice as jockey.
However, after the final workout, Shaikh Hamdan got a call from Simon Crisford [Goldolphin’s racing manager] apologising that Dettori had opted to go for Daylami.
Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, was unfazed. He decided that Richard Hills would be a more astute jockey to handle a horse like Almutawakel as he is someone who listened and followed instructions and strategy of the trainer.
Going into the race, Almutawakel was never fancied to win. He was in fact fifth in the field, made worse by the fact that Almutawakel had been beaten twice under Dettori.
Before winning the Dubai World Cup, Almutawakel had won the 1998 Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly. He also finished as the runner-up in the 1998 Grand Prix de Paris.
The interesting thing was that Almutawakel did not win a race after his first place finish at the 1999 Dubai World Cup. In 2000, trained by Mark Hennig, Almutawakel finished second in the Woodward Stakes and the Oaklawn Handicap and third in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, after which he brought down the curtains on his racing career in the USA.
In 1998, trainer Saeed Bin Surour had taken the second spot with Swain, but a year later, with Richard Hills in superb tactical form, it was time for Almutawakel to stand atop the world of horse racing in the colours of Shaikh Hamdan, also giving Bin Surour the first of his record six Dubai World Cup victories so far.
Almutawakel was foaled in Great Britain in 1995 that had been sired by Machiavellian and the Irish Stakes-winning Green Desert mare, Elfaslah.
Almutawakel finished his career with a 4-4-1 in 19 career starts. Overall, he accumulated $3,643,021 in earnings.
Entering stud in 2001, Almutawakel came up with a classic winner from his first crop. A daughter, Silver Cup, won the mile Premio Regina Elena, and later sent to the US, she was a three-time Grade II winner at Santa Anita. In the same year, Almutawakel shuttled to New Zealand and sired two-time Group I-winning gelding Wahid during his time there.
In 2007, after failing to respond to treatment for chronic arthritis, Almutawakel was euthanised in Ireland at Shaikh Hamdan’s Derrinstown Stud in County Kildare, Ireland. At the time his death, Almutawakel sired eight stakes winners for a grand total of $5,765,852 in earnings.
