By Kelsey Riley
All eyes were on last year's G1 Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) in his first appearance since a brave third in the Nov. 3 GI Breeders' Cup Classic in Saturday's G1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3, but the 5-year-old could not keep pace with the rapidly improving 5-year-old gelding Capezzano (Bernardini), who extended his record to three-for-three in 2019 and posted his second straight open-length win.
Capezzano is lightly raced for a 5-year-old, and he was making his 14th trip to the starting gate on Saturday. He was expatriated to Dubai after making just one start in Britain at two, and was third behind Thunder Snow in the G3 UAE 2000 Guineas and filled the same position in the Listed Al Bastakiya on this card two years ago. He picked up a handicap win going a mile last year but was beaten out of sight on two tries over 2000 metres, including in this race, where he was beaten 48 lengths. Off that record, and the fact that Capezzano was two-for-two over the Meydan dirt mile already this year, one would not have blamed connections for going for this card's G3 Burj Nahaar, where he would have been much more prominent in the betting, but rolling the dice earned them the ultimate reward.
Away swiftly from his wide gate, Capezzano was able to get across and lead by the time they hit the first turn, and he held command down the backstretch with Thunder Snow tucked away on his heels. Thunder Snow was in contention as they turned for home but Capezzano never looked likely to be beaten, traveling with ease under Mickael Barzalona. Capezzano turned back the favourite at the top of the lane and widened to win by 9 1/2 lengths. Thunder Snow, who was also second in this race last year en route to World Cup glory, held second from the fast finishing South Korean horse Dolkong (Afleet Alex).
Trainer Salem bin Ghadayer, who was enjoying his second day back after a year's suspension, said, “He's an honest horse. Even when he won over a mile, he ran an amazing race. We thought why not try him over 10 furlongs. If you go back, when he was three and ran in the Al Bastakiya [over 1900 metres], and there were signs in his pedigree. This horse really is amazing when he decides to run. His problem is he's a little bit tricky of a horse and he needs to keep calm and relax. He has a big future.”
Jockey Christophe Soumillon said of Thunder Snow, “I'm very happy with that second place. The winner, I knew before the race that he would be tough if he got to the lead with a steady pace and that's exactly what he did. I'm very happy with Thunder. He always improves from his runs. If you look at last year, at the same period of the season, [this effort] was even better than [when second in the same race]. I'm very confident with him.”
Pedigree Notes
Capezzano is the first stakes winner produced by Cableknit (Unbridled's Song), who was unplaced in two starts. The mare's 2-year-old is a Macho Uno filly named Saxon Braid, and she has a yearling full-sister to Capezzano. Cableknit, who is a half-sister to the champion sprinter and accomplished sire Speightstown (Gone West), was bred to Raison d'Etat for 2019.
Saturday, Meydan, Dubai
AL MAKTOUM CHALLENGE R3 SPONSORED BY EMIRATES AIRLINE-G1, $600,000, Meydan, 3-9, NH4yo/up & SH3yo/up, 2000m, 2:05.02, fs.
1–CAPEZZANO, 126, g, 5, by Bernardini
1st Dam: Cableknit, by Unbridled's Song
2nd Dam: Silken Cat, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Silken Doll, by Chieftain
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 1ST GROUP WIN. 1ST GROUP 1 WIN.
O-Sultan Ali; B-Darley (KY); T-Salem bin Ghadayer; J-Mickael
Barzalona. $360,000. Lifetime Record: 14-5-1-2, $703,676.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Thunder Snow (Ire), 126, h, 5, Helmet (Aus)–Eastern Joy
(GB), by Dubai Destination. O-Godolphin; B-Darley (IRE);
T-Saeed bin Suroor. $120,000.
3–Dolkong, 126, h, 5, Afleet Alex–Swampoodle, by Broken Vow.
($52,000 Yrl '15 FTKOCT; $35,000 2yo '16 OBSAPR). O-Lee Tae
In; B-Ellen B Kill Kelley (KY); T-Simon Foster. $60,000.
Margins: 9HF, NK, 1 1/4.
Also Ran: New Trails, Gronkowski, Nordic Lights (GB), Logrado (Arg), Furia Cruzada (Chi), Montsarrat (Ire), Cosmo Charlie.
Click for the Emirates Racing chart, the Am West PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video.
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