Godolphin's star Discreet Cat was Globeform Champion last year, when he won all his five races and rounded the campaign off with a powerful display in the Cigar Mile (Gr 1). The son of Forestry produced Globeform 133+ as he outclassed older rivals in New York.
With Silver Train and Badge of Silver in opposition, Discreet Cat was up against a pair of older Grade One performers. It was the first time he met older horses, and he won by 3 lengths. Badge of Silver and Silver Train both ran a good race, without producing their absolute best.
Even if they had, they would still have been beaten by Discreet Cat. He ran the mile in 1:32.46, just 6/100 sec. outside the track record. It could easily have been broken and Discreet Cat confirmed what many had suspected for a long time; that he was a world class thoroughbred.
Badge of Silver had been third in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) on his previous start, while Silver Train won the Met Mile (G1) at in the summer, having also landed the Breeders' Cup Sprint (Gr 1) in 2005.
Discreet Cat had won the Jerome Handicap (G2) on his previous start, nearly two months prior to the Cigar. He simply blew his opponents away to win by 10 lengths. Admittedly, with Valid Notebook second, Nar third and only two others in the field, this was nowhere near Grade One standard.
Discreet Cat's style revealed him as a top class runner, however, as he improved to Globeform 129+ in this race. He had previously won a 7-furlong allowance race at Saratoga, cantering home by 11 lengths. Make no mistake, Discreet Cat is one of the best horses seen for a long time. He has not yet produced form as exceptional as the legendary Dubai Millennium, but Discreet Cat's career is not over - and he may well prove to be just as good as the winner of the Dubai World Cup (Gr 1) in 2000.
Testing distance
Dubai Millennium performed to Globeform 139, a truly amazing rating.
Discreet Cat will be up against two serious US challengers in the World Cup.
He will probably have to stay every bit of the testing distance, to beat last year's Breeders' Cup Classic (Gr 1) winner Invasor and Premium Tap, who impressed in the Clark Handicap (Gr 1) and had a nice prep winning the King's Cup in Saudi Arabia in February.
If Discreet Cat stays the trip, he will win the World Cup. Will he stay?
Well, that may be a tough call, though I believe he will. He has a lot of speed, but he can travel kindly just off the pace, and there is no way he would have won last year's UAE Derby (Gr 2) if he had been a pure miler. That classic was run at a solid early pace, and Discreet Cat stayed on in great style, to beat Testimony by 6 lengths. Testimony was no star but Discreet Cat was so much the best in the 9-furlong event, and he had Invasor back in fourth.
On that day, not many would have doubted his stamina. Such theories have emerged as a result of him flashing world class speed in America. What's wrong with a horse that stays, and also has top class speed, you may ask.
Nothing. Nothing at all. And that is why they all have him to beat. Discreet Cat is the complete racehorse, and he will probably win again.
He missed his planned prep run, in the Burj Nahaar (Gr 3), due to fever, but that may have been a very good thing, as a mile race in a 15-runner field may not have been the ideal way to prepare for his first test over 1 miles.
Sure, he would have won it, but a whole bunch would have been trying to press him early, he could have been in traffic problems. Such an experience would have "jazzed" him up unnecessarily prior to the World Cup, and perhaps caused him to pull on the big day.
As he comes fresh, Discreet Cat will be relaxed and well balanced, convinced that he is in for yet another win. I believe he is dead right about that.
Geir Stabbell can be contacted at www.globeform.com
