This Week in Racing: Thunder, lightning at Dubai World Cup

Seldom does a yearling sold for a million or more ever offer a positive return on investment. Mendelssohn will be one of the rare horses to prove worth the hefty price tag. Already a winner on turf and a synthetic racing surface, the big 2018 Kentucky Derby question became, can the son of Scat Daddy take his best game to the dirt? After watching him absolutely bomb the UAE Derby field on Saturday, we may now have finally discovered his best surface of all.

Taking to the dirt like a wide-eyed 3-year-old introduced to a sandbox for the first time, Mendelssohn was asked for speed right after the break from the wily Ryan Moore, and this edition of the $2 million race was as good as over. I am always just a bit skeptical of a race wired in this fashion, but the performance was so eye-catching, so easy, and so overpowering, that I found it impossible to come away anything but impressed with the winner.

So now it is on to Kentucky for the $3 million colt and his master conditioner, Aidan O'Brien. There are still many obstacles to climb for Mendelssohn if he is to become the first UAE Derby runner to win our most celebrated race, and the first Kentucky Derby winner for his trainer. But we now know without question that he is the strongest entry to come out of Dubai since the race's inception.

Will Beholder and Into Mischief's little half-brother ship into the U.S. as smoothly as he did last fall? How will he take to a 20-horse field and dirt kicked into his face for the first time? Can he carry his speed the full 10 furlongs of the grueling Kentucky Derby? I, for one, cannot wait to find out.

And then, and perhaps as a cautionary tale to the chances of Mendelssohn in the Kentucky Derby, you have Thunder Snow. Him of the infamous buck-and-refuse in last year's Run for the Roses. Far removed from the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs, and the rains of Kentucky, the Godolphin star proved once and for all that he can compete very well, thank you, on the main track.

Taking it right to a solid group of international runners in Saturday's Dubai World Cup, Thunder Snow and rider Christophe Soumillon raced right out to the lead and would never look back. A missed break by the speedy North America surely made the task simpler, but I don't know that anyone was going to beat Thunder Snow on this day.

The clear favorite, West Coast, offered clear and present danger throughout, breathing down his neck for much of the way, but when the real running began, it was all about Thunder Snow. A multiple Group 1 winner on the turf, his turn of foot spinning out of the turn was electric. West Coast had no such acceleration, and the stretch run of the $10 million race became a one-horse show.

Interestingly, this opens the door for another go for the Dubai World Cup champ at 1 1/4-miles on the dirt at Churchill Downs. Let's hope we see the real Thunder Snow in this year's Breeders' Cup Classic. In a photo finish, and because of the magnitude of the event, ZATT's Star of the Week, is ... Thunder Snow!

The Dubai World Cup card was full of top-notch performances, such as those turned in on the turf by Benbatl, Hawksbill, and Vazirabad. For my viewing pleasure, no race was nearly as entertaining as the Dubai Golden Shaheen.

Mind Your Biscuits had not been at his best of late. In fact, he had not won since last July. Having said that, his form was good enough to be hopeful. Well that, and memory of the last time he raced in Dubai, uncorking a rocket ship type of rally to blow by the field with ease in last year's edition of the Golden Shaheen.

When he is good, he is very, very good, and on Saturday, we saw the absolute best from the well-traveled New York-bred. Perhaps hindered by a slightly awkward break, the American champion, Roy H could never run down the speedy X Y Jet, but despite how that appeared to be the race for most of the stretch, the real story was the streak of lightning storming home on the outside. And on a track which seemingly favored speed. I'm not sure how he got there, but somehow Mind Your Biscuits did in an absolute thriller. It was shades of Forego.

Meanwhile, the most notable race back on American soil this past weekend came at Gulfstream Park on Saturday with the running of the Grade 1 Florida Derby. It's the same race which produced last year's Kentucky Derby hero, Always Dreaming. Once again, trainer Todd Pletcher had his day in the Florida sun, as Audible validated his coming out party eight weeks earlier in the Holy Bull with a decisive victory in the marquee Kentucky Derby prep run in the Sunshine State.

While it was not quite the visual display that the Holy Bull romp was, this performance was everything the connections of the New York-bred son of Into Mischief could have hoped for. Sent off as the 8-5 choice in the field of nine, Audible afforded his Hall of Fame pilot, John Velazquez multiple gears throughout the race, on his way to a three-length score.

With the speed to obtain good early position into the first turn from an outside post, the tractability to stay well off a fast early pace, and the push button acceleration to maintain excellent position, before taking over on the far turn, the winner displayed qualities that will suit him very well against the huge field of the Kentucky Derby. He will not be my top pick in Louisville, but clearly, Audible is on a short list of horses to really fear on the first Saturday in May.

As for the rest, my longshot selection, Hofburg was the only one close down the lane. The well-bred son of Tapit is short on experience, but certainly has displayed serious talent for trainer Bill Mott in his only two starts this year. Rising up from the maiden ranks to take on Grade 1 competition is never easy, and this was a serious horse he was chasing, so I'm sure his team was tickled pink with the effort. The Kentucky Derby would be another huge undertaking at this stage of his career, but the future does look bright for Hofburg.