With 12 million reasons to run, the folks at Juddmonte Farms figured why not go for it in the Dubai World Cup?
And so they did, and unsung Laurel River put on a command performance in routing a field packed with champions in the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday.
Laurel River
He showed up in Dubai this year under the care of Seemar, running seventh in his first race back after a 17-month break, then winning the Burj Nahaar (G3) on March 2 at 1 mile. He had not run 1 ¼ miles, but Garrett O’Rourke, the manager for Juddmonte’s operation in the U.S., said going in the Dubai World Cup rather than the Godolphin Mile on the undercard is “worth a try. There’s 12 million reasons to do it.”
It marked the 11th DWC win for a horse trained in Dubai and ended a two-year run by Japan-based horses. Ushba Tesoro, who finished, was trying to become the second two-time winner of the race but came up well short.
“We hoped to catch him, but we saw how easy it was for the leader (Laurel River),’’ Ushba Tesoro’s trainer Noboru Takagi said.
Seemar said on the Dubai Racing Club broadcast: “It’s an undescribable feeling to train the horse in Dubai. “I’ve grown up here almost, I’ve been here 21 years. I thought I would probably never have a horse to run in the Dubai World Cup, and to win it is the stuff of dreams.”
Wilson Tesoro was fourth, followed by Dura Erede, Derma Sotogake, Defunded, Kabirkhan, Newgate, Crupi, Clapton, and Military Law.