'Beyond Equine Capability': Juddmonte Reflects On Arrogate's Dubai World Cup
Arrogate won the 2017 Dubai World Cup over Gun Runner
It has been nearly 11 months since a big silver train of a horse named Arrogate came rolling through the desert of Dubai and wowed the globe with a Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) performance that will be remembered for decades to come. Owned by the iconic Juddmonte Farms, trained by America’s premier classic-race conditioner Bob Baffert and ridden by the leading ‘big-money rider’ Mike Smith, Arrogate was not exactly a rags-to-riches story, but the gray son of Unbridled’s Song’s tale of accomplishing the impossible was no less incredible.
The moment the gates opened in the US $10 million affair, the 4-year-old colt’s chances were all but lost when horses to the outside and inside pinched him back to last. Appearing helplessly beaten from the get-go, he spotted the field several lengths and was placed in an astern position he had never experienced.
But Arrogate would not be denied.
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Quickly gaining composure under confident handling, the highest-rated horse in the world gradually inhaled his opponents one-by-one in dramatic, deliberate fashion. The anticipation of the crowd grew with each horse he put away until he finally got to country-mate, subsequent Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner and American Horse of the Year Gun Runner… but the showdown lasted mere moments as Arrogate passed his chestnut rival in an instant. Forging to the front, he won comfortably in the end, blowing the proverbial roof off the gargantuan Meydan grandstand and becoming the richest racehorse to ever look through a bridle.
“Our trip to Dubai was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Garrett O’Rourke, manager of Juddmonte’s North American operations. “What Arrogate displayed and accomplished that night seemed beyond equine capability. He not only won from an impossible position, but he ran past Gun Runner, who had the perfect trip and setup.”
While the remainder of Arrogate’s 2017 campaign was tainted by a mysterious form reversal, the significance of his collective career was consecrated that evening in the city of gold.
“I think, in hindsight, he pulled a superhorse performance that night that we may not see repeated in our time,” O’Rourke continued. “As Bob Baffert was quoted saying, we had not seen a performance like that since (1973 American Triple Crown winner) Secretariat.”
