Thunder Snow runs to back-to-back Dubai World Cup wins

Thunder Snow on Saturday became the first two-time winner of the Group 1, $12 million Dubai World Cup, getting a nose in front of a stubborn Gronkowski at the Meydan wire.

Running second off the layoff — Thunder Snow was flat in his season debut — trainer Saeed bin Suroor guaranteed we’d see better in the big target race, and the 5-year-old son of Helmet delivered.

Under jockey Christope Soumillon, the Godolphin runner Thunder Snow gave bin Suroor his record ninth World Cup victory.

"The horse is very brave," bin Suroor said. "I wasn’t sure if he had won, but we had the best jockey in the world on board and he knows him so well. He has won the UAE Derby and now the Dubai World Cup twice on him from wide draws and they are a great team.

"I think this is my 191st Group 1 winner, but it ranks very highly, probably along with Dubai Millennium in 2000 when he won this race."

Two American closers, Gunnevera and Pavel, got up to hit the board in third and fourth.

Known more as a late runner himself, Gronkowski made a strong middle move up the backstretch and to the lead, pressing expected early leader North America into submission. Meanwhile, Thunder Snow worked between horses before Soumillon tipped him out off the turn and got to work.

"It was very hard," Soumillon said. "Like you can see, I was looking more like a Cheltenham jump jockey than an American-style jockey. What you need with him is just keep him going, and sometimes you need to do something different."

Connections plan to bring Thunder Snow back to the U.S. later this year, with bin Suroor mentioning Saratoga and the Breeders' Cup as goals. Last year, the horse overcame the reputation of a bucking 2017 Kentucky Derby entrant to win his first World Cup, then ran second in Belmont's Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) and third in Churchill Downs' Breeders' Cup Classic.

Capezzano and Yoshida left the gates as the 7-2 co-favorites on the American tote. The former, who prefers to factor in the pace, got in behind horses and ran rank into the first turn. The latter never got involved as there was no catching the pressers Thunder Snow and Gronkowski.

Yes, that Gronkowski, who was a stunning second to Justify in the Belmont Stakes and is now on his third trainer, on a third continent. The Phoenix Thoroughbreds runner surprised in the Dubai World Cup, as he was no better than third in his four starts following the Belmont.

"When you come that far and you get beaten by such a narrow margin, it is so frustrating, but this is also a victory for us," said Amer Abdulaziz, of Phoenix Thoroughbreds. "In the end, we were beaten by a better horse but our horse is a great horse. We knew that he was going well, we tried to keep it hush-hush but he's been working so well at home.

"Salem (bin Ghadayer) has done a tremendous job with him, the best of any trainer who has had him so far. When he came here, he had a lot of issues and we had to build him up from scratch. We had to clear his mind and he's done it. I can guarantee you this horse will be back here next year - and hopefully, he can go one better.”