Hit Show brings the house down with Dubai World Cup rally
Hit Show foiled Forever Young’s attempt at completing the valuable Middle East double, weaving his way down the Meydan homestretch to run down his fellow U.S. outsider Mixto for a 41-1 upset in the Grade 1, $12 million Dubai World Cup on Saturday night.
Odds-on favorite Forever Young (1-2), who never appeared entirely comfortable in transit, did his best work late, but it was only good enough to nudge Walk of Stars out of third.
Dubai roundup: Raging Torrent wins Godolphin Mile.
Florent Géroux, who rode Gun Runner to a runner-up effort behind the other-worldly performance turned in by Arrogate in the 2017 Dubai World Cup, was content to settle Hit Show behind mid-pack. Rail-drawn Walk of Stars (9-1) set the pace with Mixto (29-1), ridden by four-time World Cup winner Frankie Dettori, stalking early in the 1 1/4-mile dirt race.
With only three or four horses behind him up the backstretch, Hit Show was full of run on the turn but was ridden quietly and still had a good 10 lengths to find. Walk of Stars and Mixto continued to mix it up at the front.
Géroux gave Hit Show his cue with about five-sixteenths of a mile left, decisively going between Katonah (52-1) and weakening Imperial Emperor (4-1) in the upper stretch. Steered to the inside of Wilson Tesoro (19-1) inside the final furlong, he took aim on the joint leaders and raced past them to cause the upset.
“Only at the (sixteenth pole) did I think I could win when I passed a lot of horses,” Géroux said. “Forever Young was my target, and he was not traveling at all. I tried to find another horse to follow. From there my horse was game. For some reason he just runs for me all the time. He is amazing.”
“I still can’t quite believe it,” winning trainer Brad Cox said by phone from Kentucky. “It’s unbelievable. I would have loved to be there, but just with so much going on with these 3-year-olds and trying to get to the (Kentucky) Derby, I couldn’t make it. However, he was in good hands with the people I sent over with him. It’s a great accomplishment, and we have a great team that allows us to spread ourselves out and travel when the opportunities are there.”
With Frankie Dettori riding, Mixto looked like he had the race won until the very end.
“I thought Mixto ran lights out, and Frankie is just a legend for so many reasons,” said Mixto’s trainer Doug O’Neill, who had an undercard win with Raging Torrent in the Godolphin Mile (G2). “He had him in a great spot without having to use much of him. I thought he had enough in the end, but he got outrun late.”
Forever Young traveled with none of the fluidity he did when winning the Saudi Cup (G1) six weeks ago, but he showed his battling qualities late to earn the third spot.
“We were the away team, and Forever Young got worked up because of it,” trainer Yoshito Yahagi said. “That’s no excuse, though.”
Walk of Stars, Il Miracolo (54-1), Ushba Tesoro (17-1), Wilson Tesoro, Rattle N Roll (22-1), Ramjet (35-1), Imperial Emperor and Katonah were fourth through 11th in that order.
The winning time without a run-up was 2:03.50 on the track baked fast by 100-degree weather during the day. The temperature was 86 at post time.
There was no pari-mutuel betting at the track, but using World Pool payouts for each-way betting available in the U.S., Hit Show returned $84.60 and $18.20, Mixto $12.30 and Forever Young $2.10. The $1 exacta paid $431.70, the 20-cent trifecta $300.00 and the 20-cent superfecta $2,472.30.
With the victory, Hit Show raised his record to 18: 9-1-1. The $6.96 million first-place money Saturday pushed his earnings to $8,402,341. He also earned an automatic invitation to the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Trainer Brad Cox indicated all roads would lead to Nov. 1 at Del Mar for the 5-year-old Candy Road entire owned by Wathnan Racing.