They call him the Magic Man, and jockey Joao Moreira conjured up yet another phenomenal result in the G1 Dubai Turf, weaving his willing accomplice Vivlos (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) from a seemingly impossible position to fly home for a stunning victory.
Barely even mentioned in dispatches as the Godolphin duo of Ribchester (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) and Very Special (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) towed the field along through the early stages, the eventual winner was shuffled towards the rear of the field, trapped hard on the rail with just two horses behind her.
As Mutakayyef (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) moved up to challenge Ribchester, with Very Special and Zarak (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) starting to come under pressure, it was the French raider Heshem (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) who appeared to present the biggest danger to the leader as he switched off the rail to make a charge down the centre of the track. Vivlos still had plenty of ground to make up but a nimble switch of direction, with Moreira threading the filly away from the rail and behind a wall of runners to find room out wide, allowed her to deliver a devastating late charge to overpower Heshem in the final 50 metres.
Saturday, Meydan, Dubai
DUBAI TURF (SPONSORED BY DP WORLD)-G1, $6,000,000, MEY, 3-25, NH4yo/up & SH3yo/up, 1800mT, 1:50.20, yl.
1–VIVLOS (JPN), 121, f, 4, by Deep Impact (Jpn)
1st Dam: Halwa Sweet (Jpn), by Machiavellian
2nd Dam: Halwa Song, by Nureyev
3rd Dam: Morn of Song, by Blushing Groom (Fr)
O-Kazuhiro Sasaki; B-Northern Racing (JPN); T-Yasuo
Tomomichi; J-Joao Moreira. $3,600,000. Lifetime Record:
G1SW-Jpn, 9-4-2-0, $4,847,741. *Full to Verxina (Jpn), G1SW-
Jpn, $5,209,490; 1/2 to Cheval Grand (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}),
MGSW & MG1SP-Jpn, $3,158,093. Werk Nick Rating: A+++
*Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Heshem (Ire), 126, c, 4, Footstepsinthesand (GB)">Footstepsinthesand (GB)–Doohulla,
by Stravinsky. (€80,000 RNA wnl '13 ARQDEC; €85,000 yrl '14
ARAAUG) O-Al Shaqab Racing; B-Yeguada de Milagro SA (IRE);
T-Christophe Ferland. $1,200,000.[bullet ad=”mandore-purchased-by”]3–Ribchester (Ire), 126, c, 4, Iffraaj (GB)–Mujarah (Ire), by
Marju (Ire). (€78,000 wnl '13 GOFNOV; €105,000 yrl '14
GOFOCT) O-Godolphin; B-A Thompson & M O'Brien (IRE);
T-Richard Fahey. $600,000.
Margins: HF, HF, 1 3/4.
Also Ran: Zarak (Fr), Mutakayyef (GB), Decorated Knight (GB), Deauville (Ire), Cougar Mountain (Ire), Debt Collector (NZ), Very Special (Ire), Mondialiste (Ire), Long Island Sound, Opal Tiara (Ire). Scratched: Real Steel (Jpn).
Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.
An animated Moreira was clearly impressed with the 4-year-old he'd only first become acquainted with 24 hours earlier. “She was brilliant,” he exclaimed. “From the time that I first sat on her on Friday she already gave me a feel that she was going to be very competitive. She was probably one of the lightest horses in the race, so if the ground was soft as people think it is, she wasn't sinking the most so I think that's why she was able to let down, get strong and be able to get there.”
Deflecting praise from what was arguably the ride of the night, he added, “Good horses make jockeys' lives easier and she actually made the job very easy for me today. She traveled nicely and she was comfortable when I got her out in the daylight. She was just so strong to the line and got it done. Congratulations to the owner, the trainer and thanks again to all those connections who got me on top of her today.”
Winner of the G1 Shuka Sho over 2000 metres in Tokyo last October, Vivlos was the first runner in Dubai for trainer Yasuo Tomomichi, who appeared rather overcome by the success of his outsider.
Speaking through an interpreter, he said, “She traveled very well from Japan and when she got to Dubai she was very relaxed. She was great today, very settled and relaxed the whole time, so she was in good form. There was a time when it looked like she had got into a difficult position in the field but when she started moving forward, it was obvious she was going to get there. I'm not sure how to react, it's all just a bit of a blank at the moment.”
Vivlos became the third Japanese-trained winner in the last four runnings of the Dubai Turf, following the victory of Just A Way (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) in 2014 and Real Steel (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) last year.
Al Shaqab Racing's Heshem added to a memorable night for France when taking second, with Christophe Ferland another trainer enjoying his first Dubai World Cup night runner, while Ribchester clung on gamely for third.
Pedigree Notes…
Last year's winner Real Steel may have been ruled out of a repeat run in the race earlier in the week, but it was still a victory for Deep Impact. In fact, the Japanese super-sire has had a particularly strong influence with the immediate family of Vivlos, whose full-sister Verxina (Jpn) is a dual winner of the G1 Victoria Mile and was runner-up in the GI Japanese Oaks. Their dam, the five-time winner Halwa Sweet (Jpn), is a Machiavellian half-sister to a pair of Group 3 winners both by Deep Impact in Martinborough (Jpn) and Frere Jacques (Jpn), and is a great grand-daughter of Glorious Song (Halo), the dam of Rahy (Blushing Groom) and Singspiel (Ire) (In The Wings {GB}).
Halwa Sweet has also produced Cheval Grand (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), a Group 2 winner in both Japan and Argentina, and the multiple winners Falster (Jpn) (Dance In The Dark {Jpn}) and Rangiroa (Jpn) (Agnes Tachyon {Jpn}). Winning owner Kaszuhiro Sasaki pitched for Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners from 2000-2003, compiling 129 saves over that time.
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