Sheik’s Horse Romps With Room to Spare in Sandbox

Late last week, Dubai’s Sheik Mohammed announced that he was raising the purse for one of his races next year from $500,000 to $2 million.

The money has to come from somewhere, right? And although the Dubai crown prince once confessed that he wasn’t down to his last camel, he kept enough dirhams in the country Saturday to get through the week.

Running on his owner’s racetrack, Sheik Mohammed’s Dubai Millennium proved that his pre-race buildup was no pipe dream. Jockey Frankie Dettori sent him to the lead in the $6-million Dubai World Cup, and at the end of the 1 1/4-mile trip they were six lengths ahead of Behrens, a cakewalk of a victory in course-record time.

“He’s the best I’ve seen in terms of looks and action,” the sheik said. “He didn’t disappoint.”

Before the horse ever ran, the sheik changed the Seeking The Gold colt’s name from Yareek to Dubai Millennium, and by any name he has been near-perfect. Saturday’s win, worth $3.6 million, was Dubai Millennium’s eighth in nine starts, the only loss coming when he ran eighth in last year’s Epsom Derby.

“When the sheik says something about one of his horses going into a race, you’ve got to take him seriously,” said Richard Mandella, who brought Puerto Madero from Santa Anita to run fourth. “He’s a hands-on guy and knows what he’s talking about.”

Sheik Mohammed said that Dubai Millennium would run this summer in England, starting with the Prince of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, with the year-end goal the Breeders’ Cup Classic--at a paltry $4 million--at Churchill Downs in November. Dubai Millennium’s first seven races were on grass, but he seems to have found a home on the sandy track in Dubai in two subsequent races--running 1 1/4 miles in 1:59 3/5 on March, then coming home in 1:59 2/5 Saturday.

“He’s the best I’ve ever ridden,” Dettori said. “I heard the cheering [in the stretch], and thought I’d take a look. I almost broke my neck looking back.”

With Mandella’s other horse, Malek--scratched after a career-ending leg injury suffered in training last week--there were five U.S.-based horses left in the world’s richest race. Four of them--Behrens, Public Purse, Puerto Madero and Ecton Park--took up the positions just behind Dubai Millennium on the hot, humid night, and Saint’s Honor was 10th in the 13-horse field.

The odds-on favorite with British bookmakers, Dubai Millennium paid a higher $4.40 as a milder choice in the U.S. Behrens, the second choice Saturday after a fifth-place finish in Dubai in 1998, combined with the winner for a $2 exacta worth $16.20.

After Ecton Park, the rest of the order of finish was World Cleek, Running Stag, Indigenous, Lear Spear, Saint’s Honor, Strudel Fitz, Gracioso and Worldly Manner.

There were seven races worth $12 million, and although Sheik Mohammed won three of them, his Kentucky Derby hopeful, Bachir, ran second to stablemate China Visit in the $500,000 United Arab Emirates Derby. China Visit wasn’t nominated to the U.S. Triple Crown races. Sheik Mohammed’s other win Saturday came with Rhythm Band, an 18-1 shot in the $2-million Duty Free Stakes. Before Sheik Mohammed’s Godolphin outfit bought him, Rhythm Band had broken his maiden for James Bond, Behrens’ trainer, at Belmont Park.

*

Alex Solis, who had come from California to ride Malek, still was able to celebrate his 36th birthday in Dubai, riding Big Jag to a four-length win in the $1-million Golden Shaheen Stakes.

Big Jag, a 7-year-old gelding trained by Tim Pinfield and bred and owned by San Diego tuna-boat operator Julius Zolezzi, ran six furlongs on a straightaway in a course-record 1:08. Big Jag, third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and second to Kona Gold at Santa Anita, won for the first time since October. Bertolini was second and Bet Me Best finished third.

*

After Event Of The Year won the Jim Beam Stakes at Turfway Park for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in 1998, the colt was injured eight days before the Kentucky Derby and missed the race.

Hollendorfer won Turfway’s premier race--it’s called the Spiral now--Saturday with longshot Globalize, another shipper from Northern California, but after the race he hedged about the Derby on May 6.

“We’ll take him back to California before we make a decision,” said Hollendorfer, who also owns part of Globalize. “It’s pretty interesting right now. Every trainer’s always thinking about the Derby, and I’m no different than anybody else. It’s tempting.”

Elite Mercedes seemed to have the $600,000 race won with a sixteenth of a mile left, but Globalize and Francisco Torres, riding Hollendorfer’s colt for the first time, survived a bumping incident and were able to squeeze through on the rail. They beat Elite Mercedes by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:49 for 1 1/8 miles, with Rollin With Nolan third and Archer City Slew, the 2-1 favorite, running seventh in the 10-horse field.

Globalize, earning $360,000 for his fifth win in eight starts, had been beaten in two of three races this year, but finally caught a dry track for the first time since November. An $80,000 yearling purchase, he’s a son of Summer Squall, who won the 1990 Jim Beam before running second in the Derby and first in the Preakness.

Notes

Trainer Bobby Frankel, settling for third place with Public Purse in the Dubai World Cup, had a stakes winner at Aqueduct, where Honest Lady, winner of the Santa Monica Handicap in January, was ridden by Brice Blanc to a 1 1/2-length win over Her She Kisses in the $185,500 Distaff Breeders’ Cup Handicap. . . . Fantastic Light won the $2-million Sheema Classic in Dubai. . . . At Oaklawn Park, Cash Asmussen came all the way from France to ride Snuck In to a neck victory over stablemate Big Numbers in the $100,000 Rebel, a prep for the Arkansas Derby. Steve Asmussen, the jockey’s brother, trains both horses. . . . It appears that Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the San Felipe, will use the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, on April 15, for his final Kentucky Derby prep. . . . Swept Overboard, at 7-10, won his third in a row at Santa Anita, beating Fortifier by 5 1/2 lengths in the $98,400 San Pedro Stakes. . . . With Frankel’s Happyanunoit missing the race because of a bruised foot, Virginie is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in today’s Santa Ana Handicap.