Parsimony steps toward Dubai World Cup with Curlin Stakes win

Dubai World Cup dreams were sparked Thursday at Meydan when Reddam Racing's Parsimony ran to a victory in the $175,000 Curlin Stakes, a listed handicap won in years past by Curlin himself as well as California Chrome on the way to their respective World Cup scores.

With Parsimony trained by Doug O’Neill, the American conditioner registered his second win of the Dubai World Cup Carnival following Fore Left's victory earlier this month in the UAE 2000 Guineas (G2).

A gray son of Dominus, Parsimony sat a perfect stalking trip under William Buick before launching past South Korea’s tough stayer Today and propelling himself to 2 ¾-length victory, finishing up the 1 1/4 miles in 2:05.05.

It was another 5 ½ lengths back to high weight Ambassadorial, representing the UK, with local co-favorite George Villiers in fourth — giving fans a quad-nation top-four finish.

The win was only Parsimony’s second from 22 starts, but breaks a career stricken with ‘seconditis’ (seven runner-up finishes) and stamps him as one to watch moving forward.

“That was very pleasing,” said Leandro Mora, O'Neill's assistant trainer. “It was a perfect ride from William. We said when we arrived that that this was the horse we hoped could be a Dubai World Cup night horse.

"He ran very well first time, but we knew he would improve from the run, so we came here today pretty hopeful."

In recent days, Mora likened Parsimony to Pavel, who for the same connections won a Grade 1 race in 2018 and competed in the 2019 Dubai World Cup. Parsimony may need to submit another top effort to qualify for the $12 million race on March 28. The Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (G1) goes on "Super Saturday," March 7, at Meydan.