ELECTROCUTIONIST
©www.godolphin.com
2006 - ELECTROCUTIONIST
The 2006 Dubai World Cup was another truly international renewal of the world's richest race, featuring runners from America, Japan, England, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and saw a fantastic performance from Electrocutionist, who overcame a poor draw and a slow start to triumph at Nad Al Sheba, on Saturday, March 25.
After making a sensational debut on dirt when taking the Group Two Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Challenge Round III earlier in the month, slamming Chiquitin by an easy seven lengths, he looked to hold outstanding claims of following in the footsteps of Almutawakel (1999), Dubai Millennium (2000), Street Cry (2002) and Moon Ballad (2003), to provide Godolphin with a fifth winner in the 11th running of the Dubai World Cup.
However, confidence in the five-year-old's chances was seriously dented after he was allocated stall one against the rail - a draw from which no previous Dubai World Cup runner had ever managed to finish in the first three, let alone win the prize.
In the 10-furlong race on dirt, Electrocutionist's prospects looked even slimmer after he was slowly away from the stalls and hard ridden to maintain his position in the middle of the field.
Yet under an inspired ride from Frankie Dettori, the five-year-old horse managed to make up ground on the leaders when switched to the outside, and gamely surged clear of American hope Brass Hat well inside the final furlong to secure a famous victory by a length and a half.
The Jeremy Noseda-trained Wilko ran a cracking race in third, ahead of Magna Graduate, another American challenger in fourth, Japanese star Kane Hekili in fifth, and Saudi Arabian-trained Chiquitin in sixth.
Brass Hat tested positive to the anti-inflammatory drug methylprednisolone, a prohibited substance, and was subsequently disqualified by the Emirates Racing Authority who promoted all the other runners a place, with the new sixth Maraahel getting into the prize money.
The story of the race was the determination, courage and ultimately class shown by Electrocutionist to succeed from what looked like an impossible position.
Frankie Dettori, partnering his third winner of the Dubai World Cup, had nothing but praise for his partner and said: "He's a great horse and has won on dirt and grass, but he is really a grass horse and he didn't change his legs until about 50 yards before the line.
"He didn't win like Dubai Millennium but he showed tremendous courage. He had to fight really hard - drawn from an impossible barrier, missing the kick and then running wide.
"It was a tough race but in the end it was a great performance and victory."
The newspapers were equally impressed - James Mossop, writing in Britain's The Sunday Telegraph, said: "Electrocutionist was beyond marvellous in this unforgettable Arabian show of thoroughbred excellence.
"The horse missed the break and was trapped on the rail. Frankie tried to come up the inside, switched wider and just as it appeared he had used all the horse's energy getting a position, Electrocutionist found courage in depth and went past America's Brass Hat in a lung-bursting, muscle-searing surge of energy that defied logic."
While Julian Muscat wrote in The Times: "The mid-card interlude for a spectacular fireworks display promoted the feeling that something special would happen out on the track.
"So it proved. And it was Frankie Dettori, aboard Electrocutionist in the World Cup, who lit the touch paper. Dettori at his best is irresistible and he was more than that here as he bullied the slow-starting bay past America's Brass Hat and Wilko in a finish of dramatic intensity."