Thunder Snow 'will improve,' trainer says, off Dubai defeat

Saturday's Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (G1), a final local prep for the March 30 Dubai World Cup, turned into a procession behind Capezzano, who was sent straight to the front by Mickael Barzalona and was never headed for trainer Salem bin Ghadayer.

Owned by Sultan Ali, he fended off a stiff challenge from favorite Thunder Snow and sauntered in style by 9½ lengths at the wire. The 5-year-old gelded son of Bernardini arrived having won both his previous outings this year, highlighted by his impressive 14-length win last out at Meydan over 1600m, but scored at the classic 1 1/4-mile distance fo the first time Saturday.

Godolphin’s Thunder Snow, second in this last year to North America before landing the Dubai World Cup, seemingly loomed as a big danger entering the straight under Christophe Soumillon, but as their challenge faltered, Barzalona and Capezzano shot clear.

Soumillon was pragmatic about the loss.

“I’m very happy with second place," he said. "The winner, I knew before the race that he would be tough if he got to the lead with a steady pace and that’s exactly what he did. I’m very happy with ‘Thunder.’ He always improves from his runs. If you look at last year, at the same period of the season, (this effort) was even better than then (when second in the same race). I’m very confident with him.”"

Saeed bin Suroor, in much the same tone, was pleased with the runner-up effort: “He got tired, just like we said (he would) before the race. He will improve from the race and will be ready for World Cup night. He’ll be fine.”

Meanwhile, Ghadayer described Capezzano as an "honest horse."

"Even when he won over a mile, he ran an amazing race,”  he said. “We thought why not try him over 10 furlongs. If you go back, when he was 3 and ran in the Al Bastakiya and there were (also) signs in his pedigree. This horse really is amazing when he decides to run. His problem is he’s a little bit tricky of a horse and he needs to keep calm and relax. He has a big future.”

Barzalona added “He does it very well. I wasn’t very confident about the longer trip, but Salem told me to try it. I made a strong effort to lead the race and I was lucky (because) he was breathing well in the (middle) of the race. Just before I asked him to go, the last three furlongs, he really picked up nicely.”

The Simon Foster-trained South Korean horse Dolkong finished third, with French jockey Olivier Doleuze pleased with the effort, given a massive step up in class and a mere nine-day turnaround from his romp in the Listed Curlin Handicap on Feb. 28.

New Trails, Gronkowski, Nordic Lights, Logrado, Furia Cruzada, Montsarrat and Cosmo Charlie completed the order of finish.