Tag: Meydan

Ushba Tesoro Completes Japanese Desert Double in Dubai World Cup

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — The pyrotechnics display following the conclusion of Saturday's Dubai World Cup program nearly matched those on the racetrack about 30 minutes earlier when Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) raced past a weakening Algiers (Ire) (Shamardal) in the final furlong to give Japan a first victory in a dirt renewal of the G1 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline.

Not only was it the third victory on the night for the nation who took home five trophies 12 months ago, but it also gave Japan a sweep of the world's two richest races, following on Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn})'s stunning all-the-way success in the G1 Saudi Cup in Riyadh four weeks ago. Emblem Road (Quality Road)), upset winner of the Saudi Cup in 2022 and sixth this time around, flashed home for third ahead of the winner's compatriots T O Keynes (Jpn) (Sinister Minister) and Crown Pride (Jpn) (Reach the Crown {Jpn}), last year's G2 UAE Derby winner, in fourth and fifth, respectively. Defending champion Country Grammer (Tonalist) never landed a serious blow from his high draw and finished midfield.

“Everything went as planned,” said winning trainer Noboru Takagi. “Actually, when he first got here he was actually quite nervous and a bit toey ,but that was expected and as the days went by, he gradually got used to his environment and ran a great race. This is by far the greatest honour of my career.”

In No R-'Ush'

Whereas Panthalassa did not fare well at Wednesday's barrier draw, Ushba Tesoro landed a far softer barrier in gate eight, but he was clearly last to leave the stalls and Yuga Kawada–who has developed a reputation as a big-race rider with international wins over the last couple of seasons at meetings like the Breeders' Cup and the Longines Hong Kong International Races–was content to trail as they raced under the wire with a circuit to travel.

With Panthalassa expected to burn whatever fuel was necessary to come across the field and be a forward factor, the World Cup pace was a nickel on the dollar to be well above par, and so it proved. Under a hustling ride from Yutaka Yoshida, the Saudi Cup winner was indeed up to force the early issue, but the rail-drawn Remorse (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) was ridden in a surprisingly positive manner by Tadhg O'Shea and consigned his Japanese rival to a two-wide run rounding the first turn. The imposing Bendoog (Gun Runner) took back a bit and raced in the company of G1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3 winner Salute the Soldier (Ger) (Sepoy {Aus}), while Algiers allowed the speed to clear and was able to slot neatly into about the three path after departing stall 13.

Drone camera footage captured 14 of the 15 runners as they turned down the back straight, and it wasn't until the six-furlong pole that the shadow of Ushba Tesoro began to creep into view, still unhurried, as Remorse continued to materially impact the race shape underneath Panthalassa, who began to toss out distress signals with just under 800 metres to race. Bendoog, very much a questionable stayer at the mile and a quarter, was the first to come after his stablemate Remorse, but Algiers had traveled sweetly through the race under letter-perfect handling from James Doyle and came to win the race three deep three furlongs from home as a cheer went up from those longing for a home-based World Cup winner.

Algiers took command a quarter mile from home and appeared well on his way to a famous victory, but Kawada had steered Ushba Tesoro out and around a scuffling Saudi Cup third Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah) and into the clear at the 500 metres and was steaming home down the centre. After looking an inevitable winner not 15 seconds earlier, Algiers was soon running on empty, and Ushba Tesoro carried his momentum all the way to the wire for a win that was reasonably easy in the end.

“It was his first time running overseas and there were queries on whether he'd travel as well as the fact it was his first time on the surface,” said Kawada, lovingly referred to at home as the 'King'. “He was training quite well over here this week and I knew the horse was in good condition, so it was just a matter of the horse keeping his head in the race and he did that very well today.

“There were eight Japanese horses in the field and aside from myself the only other Japanese jockey on a Japanese horse was Yutaka Yoshida on Panthalassa. I was on the horse for the first time today, but it was a tremendous honour to ride him and there was a lot of pressure as the leading Japanese jockey heading into the race.

“Thanks to the effort of the horse, he fought on very well and I'm very proud of myself as the leading Japanese jockey by winning the leading race in the world today.”

Takagi indicated that Ushba Tesoro could be considered for the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but with a record of five-from-six on the dirt, it would be no surprise to see connections stay the current course.

Goodbye Turf, Hello Dirt

Ushba Tesoro made the first 22 starts of his career on the turf–no surprise there–but had only spotty success, with just three victories and five minor placings. He belied odds of 14-1 in winning a 2100-metre allowance in his dirt debut at Tokyo last April, and since returning from about five months on the shelf last September, had won his last four, including the G1 Tokyo Daishoten at Ohi Dec. 29 and a defeat of T O Keynes in the Listed Kawasaki Kinen over 10 1/2 testing furlongs Feb. 1. His success mirrors that of Jun Light Bolt (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), who struggled on turf before winning last year's G1 Champions Cup. Jun Light Bolt was among Saturday's eight Japanese runners, but finished tailed off.

Not To Be For Country G

Frankie Dettori managed to salute aboard the remarkable three-peater Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G1 Dubai Turf, but there was no fairytale ending to his Meydan career, as defending World Cup champion Country Grammer was a listless seventh.

“He ran so big in Saudi Arabia and I was never going today,” the Italian said. “I pushed him but he felt lethargic. When they run so big, sometimes they take longer to recover than you think.”

Pedigree Notes:

On an afternoon where Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) stamped himself as one of the most worthy candidates for the race nearly every horse owner in Japan wants to win–the Arc–it seems only fitting that the winner of the world's second-richest horse race would be by the horse that broke the hearts of nearly every Japanese racing fan by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory on the Bois de Boulogne in 2012.

That Orfevre would go on to be a useful stallion is hardly surprising. What is more confounding is the fact that of his 25 black-type winners from six crops of racing age, nearly a third of them have earned their black-type victories on the dirt. Until Saturday, the 2021 GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff won by the Yoshito Yahagi-trained Marche Lorraine (Jpn) was the sire's most important dirt success, while Orfevre is also responsible for Group 3-winning sprinter Justin (Jpn), down the field in Saturday's G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, and the recently retired Group 3-winning and Group 1-placed racemare Gilded Mirror (Jpn). He is also the sire of four winners at the listed stakes level. Ushba Tesoro is one of three Orfevre stakes winners out of mares by the late King Kamehameha (Jpn).

Ushba Tesoro's second dam Sixieme Sens was ridden by Freddy Head to victory in the 1995 Listed Prix Bagatelle for trainer David Smaga and Mme Marc de Chambure and went on to continue her career in the US under the tutelage of the late Bobby Frankel for whom she won the GIII Athenia S. in New York and the GII Dahlia H. in 1996 and the GII San Gorgonio H. the following season. Dr Masatake Iida purchased Sixieme Sens for $750,000 when offered in foal to Gone West at the 1997 Keeneland November Sale and exported her to Japan. Her second foal for Iida's Chiyoda Farm Shizunai became the stakes-winning Bold Brian (Jpn) (Brian's Time), while Millefeui Attach, a three-time winner of better than $450,000, was Sixieme Sens's eighth produce and one of her nine winners from 12 to the races.

Ushba Tesoro races for the Ryotokuji Kenji Holdings Co., which has also campaigned the likes of US-bred listed winner Aurora Tesoro (Malibu Moon) and the multiple stakes winner and Group 1-placed Rieno Tesoro (Speightstown) to name but a few. Ushba Tesoro cost the operation ¥25 million ($219,250) as a foal when consigned by Chiyoda Farm to the 2017 JRHA Select Sales.

Millefeui Attach is also the dam of a 2-year-old colt by Asia Express (Henny Hughes) and a yearling filly from the first crop of 2019 G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen hero Mr Melody (Scat Daddy). The mare was most recently bred to Matera Sky (Speightstown), a Group 3-winning dirt sprinter at home and second in the 2019 G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen.

Saturday, Meydan, Dubai
DUBAI WORLD CUP SPONSORED BY EMIRATES AIRLINE-G1, $12,000,000, Meydan, 3-25, NH 4yo/up & SH 3yo/up, 10f, 2:03.25, ft.
1–USHBA TESORO (JPN), 126, h, 6, by Orfevre (Jpn)
                1st Dam: Millefeui Attach (Jpn),
                                  by King Kamehameha (Jpn)
                2nd Dam: Sixieme Sens, by Septieme Ciel
                3rd Dam: Samalex (GB), by Ela-Mana-Mou (Ire)
(¥25,000,000 Wlg '17 JRHJUL). O-Ryotokuji Kenji Holdings Co
Ltd; B-Chiyoda Farm Shizunai (Jpn); T-Noboru Takagi; J-Yuga
Kawada. $6,960,000. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Jpn, 29-9-1-5,
$9,286,384. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for
   the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free
   Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Algiers (Ire), 126, g, 6, Shamardal–Antara (Ger), by Platini
(Ger). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. O-Hamdan Sultan Ali
Alsabousi; B-Godolphin (Ire); T-Simon & Ed Crisford.
$2,400,000.
3–Emblem Road, 126, h, 5, Quality Road–Venturini, by
Bernardini. ($230,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $80,000 2yo '20
OBSJUN). O-HRH Prince Saud bin Salman; B-Brushy Hill, LLC
(Ky); T-Ahmad Abdulwahid. $1,200,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, SHD, 3/4.
Also Ran: T O Keynes (Jpn), Crown Pride (Jpn), Bendoog, Country Grammar, Salute The Soldier (Ger), Remorse (Ire), Panthalassa (Jpn), Geoglyph (Jpn), Cafe Pharoah, Vela Azul (Jpn), Super Corinto (Arg), Jun Light Bolt (Jpn). VIDEO.

 

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Broome Sweeps Siskany Aside for Gold Cup Glory

With the team from Japan fully expected to play a major role on Dubai World Cup day at Meydan, it was an Irish-Japanese collaboration that struck early in the card when Masaaki Matsushima and the Coolmore partners' Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) swooped late to claim the G2 Dubai Gold Cup.

The redoubtable 7-year-old is a seasoned world traveller for Aidan O'Brien. His previous five starts had come in Ireland, France, America, Hong Kong, and Qatar, but this was Broome's first appearance at Meydan, where he was tested over the the two-mile trip for only the second time. He lacked no resolve when, under a typically shrewdly-judged ride from the maestro Ryan Moore, he steadily reeled in Siskany (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who had taken up the running as his fellow Godolphin campaigner Global Storm (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) relinquished pole position, leaving Quickthorn (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {GB}) in contention as the field turned for home. 

Setting a new course record of 3:16.83, Broome crossed the line just a neck in front of the Charlie Appleby-trained favourite Siskany. The 2021 Dubai Gold Cup winner Subjectivist, who was making only his second start for Charlie Johnston following an absence of more than 600 days, held on gamely for third having once again been keen in the earlier stages. Ardakan (GB) (Reliable Man {GB}) ran home well late to take fourth for Marco Botti.

With O'Brien on duty at the Curragh as the turf season got underway in Ireland, Broome's part-owner MV Magnier was at Meydan and said, “Aidan, in fairness to him, was very confident that he would get the trip and Mr Matsushima thankfully thought it was a good idea to bring him to Dubai. He's been all over the world now and he's a very genuine horse. He's been to every dance and we're lucky to have him.”

Of the Coolmore team's association with Matsushima, he added, “Hanako [Varian] and Patrick Barbe introduced us a few years ago and we've had a few horses together now. It's been very lucky; we're very honoured to have horses with him.”

Having ridden a Group 1 double in Australia last weekend, Moore continued to demonstrate his world-class credentials with an early victory on what he described as “one of the biggest nights of the year, no doubt about it.”

He continued, “It's always a pleasure to come here and it's hard to ride a winner.”

Moore added of his mount, who has now triumphed in seven group races, “He's a Group 1 winner and he has high-class form. The pace was strong and we just had to wait for a bit of room at the top of the straight. He puts his head down and he gave me everything. It's just a pleasure to ride a horse like him.

“He's done a lot of racing and he always runs his race but you're never quite sure until they come up here and do it, but he's such a brave horse and he always gives his best.”

Pedigree Notes

A full-brother to the G2 Futurity S. and Chesham S. winner Point Lonsdale (Ire), Broome was bred by Denis Brosnan's Epona Bloodstock and sold through the breeder's Croom House Stud for 150,000gns at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale. Now the earner of more than £2 million in prize-money, he has raced in seven different countries.

His dam Sweepstake (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), a Listed-winning and Group 3-placed juvenile, has produced four winners to date. Her current 3-year-old Saadiyat (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) was runner-up on her only start last season for Al Shira'aa Farms and holds entries for the French Classics. The 18-year-old mare has a 2-year-old colt by Frankel (GB) and was covered again by Australia last year. 

 

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Isolate, Gaffalione Take Out the Godolphin Mile

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES —  Making just his third start in Dubai and stretching out to a mile for the first time in over two years, RRR Racing's Isolate (Mark Valeski) never gave his 13 rivals in Saturday's G2 Godolphin Mile Sponsored by One Za'abeel as he put on a powerful front-running display to carry visiting jockey Tyler Gaffalione to an easy 5 1/2-length victory.

Not the fastest away from the stalls in the mile chute, the $70,000 Keeneland November weanling speared through from between horses to take up the running linking up with the course proper, as defending champion Bathrat Leon (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) and his countrymate Win Carnelian (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) put the pressure on the pacesetter from the outside. Always holding that pair at bay as the field raced into the final 600 meters, Isolate was about two lengths clear into the stretch and lengthened away to score impressively. Law of Peace (Ire) (Shamardal) and Atletico El Culano (Uru) (Alcorano {Brz}) each raced near the tail of the field early, but powered home to fill out the minor placings. Bathrat Leon just held fourth over American ex-pat Everfast (Take Charge Indy).

“Tyler did a great job getting him out and going, getting a nice pace on and he stays a mile, we can definitely say that now,” said trainer Doug Watson, winning this race for the third time. “I wasn't quite sure until he turned in and there wasn't much going with him.”

He added, “I'm just thrilled for Sheikh Rashid (bin Humaid al Nuaimi) and the whole team at home. I've been here for almost 30 years, I've progressed from being in charge of the ambulance at the first Dubai World Cup to now having winners on the night. It's quite remarkable.”

Campaigned in the States by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Isolate was a two-time winner and third in the 2020 GIII Nashua S. for Kathy Ritvo before being transferred to trainer Tom Amoss, for whom he tallied four races, including last year's Work All Week S. at Hawthorne and a romping score in the Tale of the Cat S. at Saratoga. Just touched off in the Louisville Thoroughbred Society S. in September, Isolate was acquired by these connections and his two lead-up races locally were solid runner-up efforts to Tuz (Oxbow) in the G3 Al Shindagha Sprint in February and to the commonly owned Sound Money (Flatter) in the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal S. on Super Saturday.

Pedigree Notes:

Isolate is one of three stakes winners and becomes the first graded winner for his sire (by Proud Citizen), who bred by, raced for and began his stud career at Airdrie Stud before ultimately relocating to Arkansas. Isolate is out of a winning daughter of seven-times stakes winner and three-times graded-placed Travelator, the dam of SWs Hollywood Jet (Uncaptured) and Stone Silent (Adios Charlie) and the dam of Grade III winner Last Judgement (Congrats). Tranquil Song is also responsible for a 2-year-old colt by Enticed and a colt by Tacitus foaled Mar. 1.

 

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Al Dasim Giving Boughey ‘Quoz’ For Optimism

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — From the very beginning, young trainer George Boughey has made one thing quite clear–when the opportunity presents, he wants to travel horses to play the game on the international stage at the very highest level.

At this time last year, Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah's Al Dasim (Ire) (Harry Angel {Ire}) was about a month away from making an early-season debut; twelve months on from that somewhat disappointing fifth when favoured in a five-furlong maiden at Leicester, the chestnut colt will be one of the choices to give Boughey a victory at one of the world's greatest and richest race meetings in Saturday's $1.5-million G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan.

“It's great. I've been pretty outspoken about the fact that this is what we want to be doing,” Boughey said. “The UK is very much our base, but if we want to be running horses, we'll span the world when we can. I've got a super team of guys who take the horses wherever they go. The horse makes the job very easy, but to have runners around the world, you have to have enormous trust in your staff for doing the job that you asked them to do. And I have that so I'm hugely grateful for that.”

Boughey Steps In

Boughey is at least equally thankful that he was given the chance to take over the training of Al Dasim, bred by Skymarc Farm and a £50,000 purchase by Sheikh Abdullah from the draft of Tony O'Reilly's Hollyhill Stud at the 2021 Goffs UK Premier & Silver Yearlings Sale.

The chestnut, whose third calendar birthday doesn't come until Apr. 11, was runner-up in a Salisbury novice event in two starts for Clive Cox and graduated a couple of runs later in a Windsor maiden after being transferred to Kevin Philippart de Foy. He was turned over to Boughey after finishing unplaced in the Listed Prix de la Vallee d'Auge at Deauville last August.

“I'd trained for Sheikh Abdullah before and we were lucky enough to be the recipient of a handful of horses and he was one of them,” said the conditioner, who has about 10 horses for Sheikh Abdullah. “[Sheikh Abdullah]'s got a string of horses out in Saudi Arabia at the moment, obviously not far away from his local Kuwait.”

Runner-up in a nursery handicap at Haydock in his first appearance for Boughey last September, Al Dasim took a pair of starts back-to-back over the Wolverhampton all-weather, including a November novice with a whopping 144 pounds on his back, and the stage was set to broaden his horizons.

“It's been a plan for [Sheikh Abdullah] for a long time to try and have some horses in Dubai,” Boughey said. “When he came to me, for me, I thought he was a fast-ground horse. He'd been tried on slower ground before and I was pretty keen that if he did show enough ability, that we'd take him to Dubai. So it was later on in the year, but he needed to prove to me that he was good enough to be a horse who was going to be competitive. I wasn't going to take him unless he was. And he's very good. He won under a double penalty at Wolverhampton. I just wanted to go and see him carry a big weight and try and win well and he did exactly that. Just before that race, [Dubai] was the plan, and then obviously it came to fruition when he won.”

Hitting The Road

Dubai is not for every horse, but Al Dasim has actually come on for his time in the Emirates, Boughey suggests.

“Yeah, he's done very well,” he said. “Ryan King, my sort of head man out there, he's been in charge of him and he's been riding him every day. He's a horse who was a little bit fractious when we first got him, and he seems to be relaxing each week. I thought at the time that we had him in a good mental state and that he'd be able to handle training on the track. And actually, I think, having seen him train out there, I think he's almost thrived for it. He's actually done a lot of work on the dirt, and I'm not saying he's going to run on the dirt immediately, but it would be no surprise if he did end up in Dubai next year. Then we might try him on the dirt as well as the turf.”

For now, it's been the lush Meydan grass where Al Dasim has made a name for himself. Taking full advantage of the opportunity to face his peers early during the Dubai World Cup Carnival, he ran strong times in winning conditions events in January and February over the straight six furlongs, which came as little surprise to his connections.

“On just official ratings alone, he looked liked he was clear of certainly the colts out there in the sprint division,” said Boughey. “So as long as we could have him in good condition as well, then I thought he'd be a horse who'd be very hard to beat out there, having seen the pool of horses he was going to run against. But I didn't really ever…you know, obviously the programme is Super Saturday and the Al Quoz was obviously there. But he's certainly had to go and prove his merit to be in the race and he certainly did that.”

A Super Saturday Star

It is one thing to go and beat up on your peers, it's an entirely different ball of wax stepping a 3-year-old up to tackle older rivals as early as March. But Al Dasim did just that last time in the G3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint. Drawn low on the oft-disadvantageous far side, he nevertheless raced prominently, took over from pacesetting Miqyaas (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB})–previously winner of the G2 Blue Point Sprint S. over the minimum trip–and went on to score by 2 1/4 lengths beneath Mickael Barzalona.

“I think the speed that they go in the older races is very different,” said Boughey. “The tempo of race is different to what he's ever encountered before. And as a horse whose traveled very well against his own age and I did hope that he would step up, and it was nice to see him do it. But he was taking on some 6-, 7-,8-year-old sprinters who are hardened, good performers. Obviously it will be a massive step up again on World Cup night, but I've got no reason to suggest that he's out of place and he goes there in great shape.”

Boughey is taking it race-by-race with Al Dasim, but has a plan in mind for the near to mid-term, with the G1 Commonwealth Cup back against 3-year-olds at Royal Ascot in June the likeliest target.

“He'll probably get an entry in the [G1] King's Stand [S.] as well, being open to 3-year-olds, whereas the [G1] Platinum Jubilee S. isn't,” the trainer said. “Ascot I think is almost tailor-made for him, you know? It's a faster track on the flat track than at Meydan. I think that stiff finish will suit him well and you can ride him for a turn of foot. He's entered in the [G1 2000] Guineas at Newmarket, but at this stage I'd be very surprised if he's stepping up to the mile. He's showing a lot of pace from the get-go, he's an old-school winner over the minimum trip of five furlongs and being by Harry Angel, I don't see any reason to stretch him at this stage.”

George Boughey is clearly excited about the challenge that awaits around a quarter past five local time Saturday.

“I'm looking forward to it and it's a pretty special place, Meydan. I'm looking forward to seeing it full of people,” he said.

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