By Daithi Harvey
The unusual trend of ex-British-trained turf horses upping their game when encountering dirt continued on Saturday when Matterhorn (Ire) (Raven's Pass) proved a dominant winner of the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3. The former Mark Johnston- trained 5-year-old had previously shown adaptability on different synthetic surfaces in Britain and he put that adaptability to good use to put up a career best, beating the favourite Military Law (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) by an impressive 5 1/2 lengths. Mickael Barzalona had an armchair ride on the Salem Bin Ghadayer-trained entire and, after breaking smartly, he quickly established an uncontested lead at the head of the eight runner field. The favourite Military Law never looked comfortable and was struggling to keep up from some way out. Meanwhile, Matterhorn was going great guns in front and built up an unassailable lead turning into the straight. Kept up to his work by Barzalona, Matterhorn galloped on strongly to the line with Military Law staging a late rally to take second ahead of Mark Of Approval (Lemon Drop Kid) in third.
The winning jockey, who is enjoying a successful carnival, commented, “He ran well last time and has improved a lot since. It took him a little bit of time to understand how we work on the dirt but he was very pleasing today, even if he didn't do everything in the right way. He never really got relaxed in front and he's still a little immature. But it's not easy to win a Group 1 like that on only your second start on dirt. He will need to improve again to win the World Cup but it was only his second start on the surface so I think he can progress further.”
Salem Bin Ghadayer was happy to enjoy Saturday's result and said, “We always thought he would handle the dirt well and he has always trained well on it. We were very pleased with his first start when third to our Capezzano in the Firebreak. We knew this longer trip would suit him and the plan was always to be positive on him, so Mickael has given him a great ride.”
Military Law did well to finish as close as he did and his jockey Antonio Fresu explained, “He broke well, but he couldn't follow the pace because it was very fast early on. He started taking a lot of kickback and it was hard to come from off the pace. We did it anyway and finished really well. The winner was too good tonight, so we'll see next time.”
Unraced as a juvenile, Matterhorn was kept busy by Mark Johnston at three and four but typical of so many of the trainer's horses he thrived on such a routine, putting together a five-race winning streak on the all-weather between December 2018 and March 2019. He proved he was equally effective on grass last year when running with credit in a number of stakes races, winning a listed race at Windsor in June before taking the runner-up spots in the G3 Winter Hill S. at Windsor, the G3 Superior Mile S. at Haydock and the G2 Boomerang S. at Leopardstown. Spending the winter in Dubai seems to have had a beneficial effect and he has earned his place in the G1 Dubai World Cup in three weeks' time.
Pedigree Notes
Matterhorn was bred by Barronstown Stud and was sold as a foal in Tattersalls to John Ferguson for 70,000gns. He is out of the stakes-placed Darshaan (GB) mare Tanaghum (GB), who has been a sound investment for the Nagles' since been bought by Barronstown Stud for €250,000 at Goffs in 2014. It is a top-class pedigree and Tanaghum has also produced the G3 Classic Trial winner Bangkok (Ire) (Australia {GB}), the G3 Curragh Cup winner Tactic (GB) (Sadler's Wells) and the Listed Prix Joubert winner Yazy (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in addition to five other winners. Even more significantly her 12-year-old daughter Mujarah (Ire) (Marju {Ire}) is the dam of the MG1SW and sire Ribchester (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}). Meanwhile, Matterhorn's grand-dam Mehthaaf (Nureyev) won the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas and as well as being a half-sister to the G1 July Cup winner and former stallion Elnadim (Danzig), she is also the dam of G2 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Najah (Ire) (Nashwan).
Saturday, Meydan, Dubai
AL MAKTOUM CHALLENGE R3 SPONSORED BY EMIRATES AIRLINE-G1, $600,000, Meydan, 3-7, NH4yo/up & SH 3yo/up, 10f, 2:04.44, fs.
1–MATTERHORN (IRE), 126, h, 5, by Raven's Pass
1st Dam: Tanaghum (GB) (SP-Eng), by Darshaan (GB)
2nd Dam: Mehthaaf, by Nureyev
3rd Dam: Elle Seule, by Exclusive Native.
(70,000gns Wlg '15 TATFOA). O-Sheikh Hamdan bin
Mohammed Al Maktoum; B-Barronstown Stud (IRE); T-Salem
bin Ghadayer; J-Mickael Barzalona. $360,000. Lifetime Record:
22-9-6-2, $797,489. *1/2 to Tactic (GB) (Sadler's Wells), GSW-
Ire, SW & GSP-Eng; Zahoo (Ire) (Nayef), SP-Eng; Yaazy (Ire)
(Teofilo {Ire}), SW &MGSP-Fr; and Bangkok (Ire) (Australia
{GB}), GSW-Eng, $198,468. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Military Law (GB), 126, g, 5, Dubawi (Ire)–Marine Bleue (Ire),
by Desert Prince (Ire). (900,000gns RNA Ylg '16 TAOCT;
110,000gns HRA '19 TATJUL). O-Nasir Askar; B-Qatar
Bloodstock Ltd (GB); T-Musabbeh Al Mheiri. $120,000.
3–Mark of Approval, 126, g, 6, Lemon Drop Kid–Agreeable
Miss, by Speightstown. ($400,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP; 25,000gns
HRA '18 TATAUT; UAE20,000 HRA '19 EMHRA). O-Sayed
Hashish; B-Keithshire Farm (KY); T-Mahmood Hussain.
$60,000.
Margins: 5HF, 2HF, 1 1/4. Also Ran: Saltarin Dubai (Arg), Roman Rosso (Arg), New Trails, Quip, Desert Fire (Ire).
Click for the Racing Post result. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.
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