Cup beckons for brilliant Sulamani
The Saeed Bin Suroor-trained four-year-old cruised up on the outside of Delightful Irving off the final bend and went on to win by two lengths under jockey Jerry Bailey.
Sulamani appeared to stumble at the far turn but Bailey soon regained control and will be hoping for an easier ride in next month’s Breeders’ Cup Turf in Santa Anita.
“We are very excited with the win,” racing manager Simon Crisford told the Godolphin website.
“He showed great acceleration towards the end of the race, something he has always shown. We just hope he makes that same move in the Breeders’ Cup.”
Bailey was equally impressed.
“That was a very athletic and courageous performance,” the rider said. “Sabiango wasn’t quite clear, and I caught his heel. I’ve never had a horse get back into a race after something like that happened.”
However, the Godolphin operation were out of luck when Dubai World Cup hero Moon Ballad finished last behind easy winner Mineshaft in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. “He just didn’t run his race,” Crisford said. “We’re very disappointed. We’ll let the dust settle before we decide on the future.”
Bailey added: “He was just flat. I got no response.”
Earlier, Dermot Weld’s Dimitrova held off long-shot Walzerkoenign and favourite Heat Haze to take the Flower Bowl Invitational and book her place in the Breeders’ Cup. The three-year-old filly, who was ridden by Bailey, is likely to go for the Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita. “You saw the real filly today,” Weld told thoroughbredtimes.com. “It was a great performance. We had her ready for this race and she proved to be the top filly that she is.”
Meanwhile Mamool warmed up for a tilt at the Tooheys New Melbourne Cup in November with a fluent victory in the Preis Von Europa at Cologne yesterday. This was the Godolphin colt’s second Group One success in Germany within the last three weeks following his win in the Grosser Bugatti Preis at Baden-Baden earlier this month.
Frankie Dettori soon took up running on the four-year-old and set a steady pace before being overtaken by Well Made at the halfway stage.
Mamool, the 2-5 favourite, regained the advantage two furlongs out and ran on well to win by a length and a quarter from the Sir Mark Prescott-trained Albanova, who was ridden by George Duffield, with Well Made rallying for third.
