The late bloomer fully justified trainer Freddy Head’s faith
“I can’t tell you how good this horse is — he is a world
“But this was a big test, as it was his first Group 1 race. But I couldn’t
“That was unbelievable,” Guyon said. “We thought coming here that he was a
“Good horses make this job easy. This is my first Group 1 in Dubai so this win
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“I had a great race. Before the race we didn’t know if there was pace or not,
so the trainer told me if there is no one to go in front, you can go in front.
But we went fast and I got a good position and he really had a great turn of
foot and won very easily tonight.”
Kevin Ryan, trainer of The Grey Gatsby, was happy with the effort off a
six-month layoff.
“I was delighted with him.
The winner has won well but my horse has run a good race and he’ll come on for
it,” Ryan said. “I’d say we could go on to the Tattersalls Gold Cup
(Ire-G1) at the Curragh now, and
hopefully then Royal Ascot.”
The Todd Pletcher-trained Mshawish was a game third, just three-quarters of a
length away, after battling a bruised hoof.
“I feel like we won
the race,” said, Bradley Weisbord, Al Shaqab’s U.S. racing advisor.
“48-72 hours ago everyone was saying it’s a tendon, a suspensory (injury). Our
vet diagnosed the problem quickly to be a bruised hoof.
“I can’t say enough about the team. Nick Bush and Ginny Depasquale lived with
this horse 24 hours a day. Coordinated everything with Todd Pletcher
by phone.
“We soaked the hoof. No medication. No nothing. Pure horsemanship.”
“He was a
bit fresh,” jockey Frankie Dettori said of Mshawish. “As you know he had three days in the box with a sore foot. He ran on
a good third and I’m delighted. Would he have been closer hadn’t he been in the box? Yes, second, but I
don’t think we would have caught the winner.”
Euro Charline (Myboycharlie), making her first start since winning the
Beverly D. (G1) last August, unexpectedly set the pace and tired to fourth.
“It didn’t happen the way we wished it to,” jockey Joao Moreira said. “She
wound up in front, which was not the best place for her to be, but she jumped so
well.
“She put two lengths in front of them going a slow tempo, I just couldn’t hold
her back and let someone else come across. She’s coming back from a long break
and ran a huge race.
“If she would have relaxed a little bit more she would have finished a little
bit stronger. If we could have taken back and sat in the pocket in fourth she
would have had an even better finish.”
Solow took a while to develop, partly because of an illness he endured at
three. But the five-year-old has now won eight of his last nine, his only loss
in this span a sixth when trying about 1 15/16 miles in the Prix Vicomtesse
Vigier (Fr-G2) last May. Solow has since thrived on the cutback in trip. His
current five-race streak includes the Prix Quincey (Fr-G3) and Prix Daniel
Wildenstein (Fr-G2) on Arc weekend, and a fluent prep over Chantilly’s Polytrack
March 3. He has compiled an overall record of 13-8-2-1, $3,933,988.
“This has been a long time coming with this horse,” Head said, “but we now have him 100
percent and had to geld him to try to curb his growth as he was getting so big.
“The aim now is to come back and win this race again next year, but before
then we will look at the (June 16) Queen Anne (Eng-G1) at Royal Ascot.”
Bred in Great Britain, Solow is out of the Group 3-placed stayer High
Maintenance (Highest Honor). His second dam is Group 2 queen Fabulous Hostess
(Fabulous Dancer), from the further family of Group 1 victress Thistle Bird
(Selkirk).
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