Sheik Smell of Success May Come in Preakness

The 125th Kentucky Derby had just been run, and ceremonies in the infield winner’s circle were about to begin.

At Churchill Downs, tens of thousands of fans cast their eyes toward Charismatic, the horse of the day, and his handlers--owners Bob and Beverly Lewis, trainer Wayne Lukas and jockey Chris Antley. On television, millions watched.

Almost unnoticed, not far from the finish line along the outer rail of the track, a dozen or so well-dressed, intently interested visitors from a far-off land gathered to take in the spectacle. Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, had brought them there--his oldest son, his trainer, his racing advisors--to soak up how Americans celebrate winning this country’s most famous horse race.

The sheik, who is the crown prince of Dubai and the minister of defense for the seven emirates that make up the Persian Gulf country, has a four-year plan to win the Kentucky Derby. He will know which way it is to the winner’s circle once he gets a horse to the finish line first at Churchill Downs.

Sheik Mohammed, 49, has been an estimable racing force in Europe for 15 years, finishing first in the English owners’ money standings year after year and winning classic races such as the Epsom Derby, the Arc de Triomphe and the Irish Derby.

He has also come to the United States and won Breeders’ Cup races with Pebbles, In The Wings, Barathea and Arazi, a brilliant 2-year-old who ran first in the 1991 Juvenile--at Churchill Downs--after the sheik bought a 50% interest from Californian Allen Paulson for a reported $5 million.

Six months later, Arazi--not the same horse after surgery on both knees and brought back to Churchill by an unenthusiastic trainer, Francois Boutin--finished a dismal eighth as the 9-10 favorite in the Kentucky Derby. That experience, however, only whetted Sheik Mohammed’s appetite for the Derby, and last year, after cashing in an oil well or two, he began buying American-bred contenders for the 1999 Triple Crown races.

In San Diego, John and Betty Mabee were flabbergasted when a representative from Sheik Mohammed’s Godolphin Stable paid a reported $5 million for Worldly Manner, their Del Mar Futurity winner.

Later, Godolphin bought another stakes-winning 2-year-old, Comeonmom, for an estimated $3 million. Godolphin bid $6 million for Prime Timber, one of the best Derby prospects in California early this year, but his owners, Aaron and Marie Jones, wouldn’t sell.

Trainer Wayne Lukas, who won this year’s Derby with Charismatic, estimates that Godolphin paid $27 million for several of this year’s promising 3-year-olds.

Aljabr, a colt Sheik Mohammed bred himself, went lame the day before the Derby and was scratched, but Worldly Manner, shocking some U.S. trainers, came within a head of the lead at the top of the stretch before flattening out in the last eighth of a mile. He finished seventh, but was only four lengths behind Charismatic, and on Saturday at Pimlico the sheik will try the next Triple Crown race when Worldly Manner runs against an expected 11 others in the 124th Preakness.

John Mabee said before the Derby that if he had to do it over, he wouldn’t take the sheik’s money. The Mabees will be trying to win the Preakness with their home-grown filly, Excellent Meeting, who was fifth in the Derby.

The Arabs from Dubai (Godolphin is run by Sheik Mohammed in a partnership that includes his three brothers) might have bought into the American bloodlines in a big way--they started buying horses at Keeneland auctions in the early 1980s and have spent almost $600 million there--but their training methods are their very own.

When Worldly Manner ran in the grueling 1 1/4-mile Derby, it was his first official start since the Del Mar Futurity, almost eight months before, and his training pattern at Churchill Downs was a long workout followed by a short one, both run in slow times.

Sheik Mohammed, who comes as close to training his own horses as any owner in the world, brought him to Kentucky off some rigorous training in Dubai, including a nine-furlong trial race against some of Godolphin’s other horses.

Trainer Nick Zito, who has won the Derby twice in the 1990s and will have two Preakness starters in Stephen Got Even and Adonis, thought that if Worldly Manner had had a U.S. prep, he might have won the Derby. Simon Crisford, Sheik Mohammed’s racing manager, and Tom Albertrani, an assistant trainer who is expected to saddle Worldly Manner on Saturday, disagree.

“He was in overdrive the whole race, and that caught up with him,” said Albertrani, the Brooklyn-born horseman who worked for trainer Bill Mott during the Cigar era. “At the quarter-pole, I got pretty excited. But when our horse hit the eighth pole, he lost his momentum.”

Saeed bin Suroor, a 31-year-old former Dubai policeman who has been training for Sheik Mohammed since 1995, saddled Worldly Manner in Kentucky but will be busy on other fronts Saturday. Godolphin, which has more than 400 horses at various training centers around the world, is also running in stakes in Japan, Germany, France and England on Preakness day.

“The horse hasn’t lost an ounce of weight since the Derby,” Albertrani said. “[Jockey Jerry Bailey] said that he grabbed the bit too hard in the Derby. The last 100 yards had nothing to do with a lack of fitness. What he needs to do early in the race is run without any distress. We think he’ll be a lot more focused this time, and we’ve got a lot of confidence. When Jerry asks him for that late kick, hopefully it will be there.”

In a Preakness that’s just as difficult to handicap as the Derby was, Worldly Manner is 12-1 on the morning line. Sheik Mohammed is expected to attend the race. Even if he doesn’t make it to the winner’s circle, he and his entourage probably will scout it out, just as they did in Kentucky.

Preakness Stakes

Saturday: 2:30 p.m., Ch. 7 (1:30)

COVERAGE: Silverbulletday will run in tdoay’s Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. Page 14

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Preakness Field

Post positions for the 124th Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Silverbulletday drew the No. 14 post but has been withdrawn from the race:

*--*

PP Horse Jockey Trainer Odds 1. Torrid Sand Tim Doocy Randy Morse 60-1 2. Kimberlite Pipe Shane Sellers Dallas Stewart 20-1 3. Cat Thief Mike Smith Wayne Lukas 8-1 4. Badge Mike Luzzi Joe Aquilino 50-1 5. Menifee Pat Day Elliott Walden 5-2 6. Charismatic Chris Antley Wayne Lukas 6-1 7. Excellent Meeting Kent Desormeaux Bob Baffert 5-1 8. Patience Game Corey Nakatani Alex Hassinger 30-1 9. Adonis Jorge Chavez Nick Zito 30-1 10. Worldy Manner Jerry Bailey Saeed bin Suroor 12-1 11. Stephen Got Even Gary Stevens Nick Zito 10-1 12. Valhol Edgar Prado Dallas Keen 99-1 13. Vicar Robbie Albarado Carl Nafzger 30-1

*--*

WEIGHT: All carry 126 pounds with the exception of filly Excellent Meeting, who will carry 121. DISTANCE: 1 3/16 miles on dirt. PURSE: $1 million. POST TIME: 2:30 p.m. PDT.