Godolphin’s Monterosso lands Dubai World Cup at Meydan
Monterosso earned a hefty cash prize for Godolphin, cruising to victory in the Grade 1 Dubai World Cup Sponsored By Emirates Airline, held at Meydan, on Saturday, March 31.
In the hands of jockey, Mickael Barzalona, the five-year-old comfortably won the world's richest race, with his stablemate, Capponi, finishing second on the chart.
It was a delightful evening for Mahmood Al Zarooni, as his trainees secured the top two positions in the 1m2f mega event.
Monterosso took a smooth start, keeping himself prominent on the field of thirteen.
In the middle hours, he changed his gears to bring himself in the front row. His hard work paid off, as he gained a decent lead, one and a half furlongs short of the wire.
After achieving a reasonable advantage, the bay horse made no mistake and finished first by three lengths. As a result, a heavy purse of £3,870,967.74 went straight into his pocket.
It was a straightforward win for Monterosso, however, his stablemate had to work really hard in order to finish second.
Under Ahmed Ajtebi, the five-year-old Capponi tracked the leaders superbly early on, leading the race for a while, but Monterosso soon established his dominance.
Maintaing the same pace made things a touch difficult for Capponi, but he managed to secure the runner-up slot by ½ a length.
Consequently, he pocketed £1,290,322.58, the winning price for the second position holder.
Planteur could not trouble the top pair, however, he collected some praise by beating the 5-4 favourite, So You Think. The New Zealander finished fourth on the chart, falling ½-length adrift of Planteur.
It was certainly an exciting battle, and Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the idea of Dubai World Cup, was pleased to see another successful event.
"It is a very special night and I'm very, very pleased. Mark Johnston did a good job with this horse," he said.
Godolphin's racing manager, Simon Crisford, also expressed delight over victory of the Godolphin-owned duo.
Crisford shared:
"It's a fantastic effort. The field had so much depth that we were hoping for good runs but we couldn't be confident going in. It's unbelievable to have first and second. They are two really fantastic horses."
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