KZN News: Arrogate Jaw Dropping Win; Crusade Half Sister Second In Dubai Sheema

International news related to KZN is that Arrogate, who share sire Unbridled’s Song with Noble Tune, amazed the racing world with an astounding last to first Gr1 Dubai World Cup victory, a win galloped in the same fashion as the way Gr2 & Gr3 winning Noble Tune won his races.

Securing a son of the mighty and sadly deceased Unbridled’s Song in South Africa, Noble Tune who hails from an extraordinary international family will have his first yearlings for sale this year, out of an impressive selection of hand picked mares for his book.

Unbridled’s Song is the current leading American sire and second leading international sire behind Deep Impact, having produced in addition amongst his many stakes winners the grey Liam’s Map – a dual Gr1 winner standing alongside Noble Tune’s half-brother and dual Gr1 winner Honor Code – as well as a champion broodmare sire, where he is currently 5th on America’s national log.

Juddmonte Farms’ Unbridled’s Song colt Arrogate, broke slowly out of the starting gate in the $10 million Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1), got squeezed between two horses early, raced behind a talented field, and still got home first by 2 1/4 lengths.

In winning his third straight “world” title, Arrogate was so dominant that jockey Mike Smith said he geared the gray down at the top of the stretch to avoid taking the lead too early.

After the slow start trainer Bob Baffert said he was hoping Smith would simply take care of the superstar colt. Instead, Arrogate started picking up horses, reached contention, and swept by Gun Runner.

“I missed the break completely,” Smith said. “I said, ‘I’m just going to ride him like Zenyatta. I had no choice but to just sit there and let him collect himself.”

Baffert, who scored his third Dubai World Cup victory, said the terrible break took the wind out of his sails and caused him to question his eleventh-hour decision to bring Arrogate to Dubai after his victories in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita Park.

“I was thinking, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have brought him. Maybe he’s getting tired.’ … I thought, ‘If he can’t win, Mike will take care of him and not abuse him.'” But as Arrogate worked his way into contention, the Hall of Fame trainer’s mood shifted. “I thought then, ‘If he wins this race, he’s the most incredible horse I’ve ever seen,'” he said.

By that point, Smith had totally regained his confidence. “I actually kind of geared him down a little bit, because I didn’t want him to hit the lead at the quarter pole,” the jockey said. “Whatever happened, it happened for a reason. It might have been a boring race.”

The Dubai World Cup was run over a track officially labeled “muddy” after a torrential rainstorm Saturday morning capped a week of turbulent weather. Despite the off track, significant kickback, and his long trip from California, Arrogate finished the 2,000 meters—about 1 1/4 miles—in 2:02.23. Arrogate got $6 million and Neolithic, who also finished third in the Pegasus, collected $1 million.

Mubtaahij, who came in second behind California Chrome  in last year’s World Cup, finished fourth while a budding Japanese star, Awardee, finished fifth.

The win boosted Arrogate’s career bankroll to $17,084,600, making him the highest-earning North American-based Thoroughbred in history. He eclipsed California Chrome among runners with one start in North America. He ranks third among all earners worldwide behind Orfevre ($19,005,275) and Gentildonna ($18,468,392).

Out of the Distorted Humor mare Bubbler, Arrogate was bred in Kentucky by Clearsky Farms and was a $560,000 Keeneland September yearling sale purchase in 2014.

Baffert and Garrett O’Rourke, racing manager for Juddmonte, said Arrogate will get a long rest now with an effort to repeat in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which is still the long-range goal for the year. Baffert said he was glad he brought Arrogate to the desert, even beyond the prestige and purse money.

“Everybody who was here tonight is going to say, ‘I’m glad I was here to see that,'” he said. “If anybody wasn’t super impressed with that, they just don’t like horse racing. I still can’t believe he won the race.”

Crusade’s half-sister defeated the bulk of the boys in the Gr1 Dubai Sheema Classic over 2400m to finish second, after coming from the back.

Seventh Heaven, a dual Gr1 Oaks winner who placed in the Breeders Cup, added another Gr1 place to her list and ran courageously to finish behind Jack Hobbs. In the process she defeated Highland Reel and Postponed.

Crusade has a number of yearlings available at Nationals, including a sibling to Gr1 Gold Cup winner, Wild One, and to Matador Man. His imposing son Calladdi finished second yesterday at Scottsville for the second time from both his starts for Greenstreet Bloodstock.

– extract bloodhorse.com