A Millennium And A Milestone

   On the 20-year anniversary of Dubai Millennium's track record-setting victory (a mark that still holds today) in the Dubai World Cup, Tom Frary looks back on the legendary performance by the storied horse.

As the final Saturday in March 2000 slipped into evening, an already exhilarated Nad Al Sheba gathering waited with a mix of eagerness and angst for the main event. The fifth running of the $6-million G1 Dubai World Cup featured a beautiful, inspiring bay colt with an edict placed upon him by the talismanic Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Already named with prestige after the nation's precious white gazelle, the David Loder project Yaazer had then been handed the portentous title Dubai Millennium (GB) (Seeking the Gold) as the country's great reformer challenged the laws of destiny.

Such is the force and intensity that Sheikh Mohammed radiates, it is not beyond the realms of possibility to expect he can bend nature to suit his will. His own breeding program had created this new prodigy, with the strong-staying dam Colorado Dancer (GB) (Shareef Dancer) having carried the old maroon-and-white silks that had painted themselves on the European racing canvas since the 1980s. A grandson of the spectacular broodmare Fall Aspen, Dubai Millennium approached the Middle Eastern monument with unerring precision. From the miling tests of the G1 Prix Jaques le Marois and G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. as a 3-year-old to Round 3 of the Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Challenge which served as a course-and-distance warm-up on his seasonal bow, he had built impetus with menacing intent.

In the line-up was the 6-year-old Behrens (Pleasant Colony), dual winner of the GI Gulfstream Park H. and all-round top-class U.S. dirt horse. His prior dismissal of Adonis (Kris S.) and With Anticipation (Relaunch) in the latest edition of that prestige affair had set him up perfectly for this big-money attempt and trainer Harold James Bond had the “007” saddle blanket ready for him. Bobby Frankel was preparing to unload the Juddmonte challenger Public Purse (Private Account) following his success in the GII San Marcos H., while Puerto Madero (Chi) (Gallantsky) came off an encouraging third in the “Big Cap”. Then there were the likes of Running Stag (Cozzene) and Indigenous (Ire) (Marju {Ire}), two international bigwigs to add further ballast. This is a race to which its inventor was set on drawing the finest available and the 2000 renewal was notably solid.

As the gates opened, Dubai Millennium was into flight with ruthless audacity from stall 11 with the wider-drawn Running Stag forced into his turbulent wake after less than a furlong. To the inner, the GI Super Derby winner Ecton Park (Forty Niner) tried to snatch a rail advantage but Jerry Bailey had it first on one of Godolphin's other runners Wordly Manner (Riverman), a smart performer in his own right and the winner of the 1998 GII Del Mar Futurity. With the royal blue employing this kind of pincer movement, even race tactics were playing out as intended. Not that the race's main attraction needed any outside help, looking so comfortable as he tightened the vice with every stride.

With half a mile to go, Frankie was still motionless as Jorge Chavez urged Behrens forward to engage, but just over a furlong later it was clear that the latter's was a lost cause. Applause and whistles had already broken out as the home straight was laid bare before Dubai Millennium and from the two pole he was supersonic. At the line, his total racing effort was measured as a track record at 1:59.50, breaking the two-minute threshold to add to the perfect symmetry. All around, the sense of wonder sent out ripples felt by the plethora of television viewers.

“Show me the money!” demanded Frankie to the BBC cameras. Ever ebullient, he was off the scale this time after his floodlit foray on the world's leading Thoroughbred. Sheikh Mohammed looked on at the reality his dream forged with an air of surety. The atmosphere was crackling with the collective alleviation of pent-up tension that only a horse, only a moment like that, can generate.

Tragically, there was only one more public showing from Dubai Millennium, at Royal Ascot where he dragged the accomplished Sendawar (Ire) (Priolo) into a place of torment. It was as if he had used up an unequal amount of fortune to that point, for the fates were unusually cruel thereafter and his adoring owner and world of admirers lost him in April 2001. His ethereal might lives on due to his sole limited crop featuring the similarly exuberant Dubawi (Ire), whose presence in the current world standings makes up in part for the hole that his sire left at such an early juncture.

It is 20 years since that magisterial occasion and it is sadly marked by a blank this time, with the Coronavirus shutting down all but the most vital activity everywhere. Where there is a void, there is a chance to reflect and it is amazing that two decades have passed since Dubai Millennium danced across the Nad Al Sheba dirt. Ticking off killing fractions as the unparalleled Secretariat had in his own amphitheatre in New York in 1973. Gripping spectators then and now with the power of his gallop, everything moving in perfect motion towards the completion of an extraordinary and audacious plan. Few scripts are followed in that fashion, but then as his owner-breeder said at the time, “there is no horse like this horse.”