Thunder Snow makes history as the only horse to win Dubai World Cup twice

A lionhearted performance from Thunder Snow saw him edge a pulsating battle with Gronkowski to win the Dubai World Cup by a nose and enter the record books as the race's first dual winner.

The victory was met with a rapturous response from the crowd lapping up the success of Godolphin, who had four winners on the world's most valuable card and also bagged the big race in Britain and Australia on a truly spectacular day for the operation.

Charlie Appleby had won Godolphin's first three prizes at Meydan, but the Dubai World Cup has for so many years provided the platform for Saeed Bin Suroor to shine and he registered a remarkable ninth success in the race's 24-year history.

Bin Suroor was keen to pay tribute to Christophe Soumillon, labelling Thunder Snow's long-term rider "the best in the world".

He said: "I wasn’t sure if he had won, but we had the best jockey in the world on board and he knows him so well."

THE TOP TEN ALL-TIME PRIZE-MONEY EARNERS

Arrogate £13,622,542
Winx £13,219,716
Thunder Snow £12,577,312
Gun Runner £12,238,136
Gentildonna £12,224,036
Orfevre £12,185,908
Kitasan Black £11,454,079
Buena Vista £10,262,876
Gold Ship £9,757,292
California Chrome £9,658,673

Thunder Snow has won on World Cup night for the past three seasons, having also landed the 2017 UAE Derby, and is third only to Arrogate and Winx in the list of the sport's highest all-time earners.

The historic victory was all the more meritorious as Thunder Snow's wide draw in stall 12 of 13 was perceived to be an issue. But Soumillon was alert from the outset and negated any disadvantage by moving across and bagging a prominent position on the heels of leader North America.

Bin Suroor said: "Christophe has won the UAE Derby and now the Dubai World Cup twice on him from wide draws and they are a great team.

"This ranks very highly, probably along with DubaiMillennium in 2000 when he won this race."

The rider was full of praise for the battling qualities of his mount, on whom he was won four Group 1s.

Soumillon said: "Last year I won by five, six, even more lengths, and today Thunder had to fight hard.

"It was very hard, I was more looking like a Cheltenham jump jockey in the end than an American-style jockey but you need to get him going and sometimes you need to do something different."

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (L), Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, receives the trophyCredit: Francois Nel

Gronkowski's jockey Oisin Murphy was also keen to emphasise how his mount's attitude had contributed so heavily to an epic finish.

He said: "Nobody wants to finish second but what a brave effort. This has been his target since he left America. He's hit the crossbar but tried hard."

Gronkowski, who was previously trained by Jeremy Noseda in Britain and Chad Brown in the US, looked the likely winner when taking things up on the turn for home, but on crossing the line Murphy knew first place in the $12 million contest had eluded him.

He added: "I knew I was beaten. He's a much bigger horse than Thunder Snow but Christophe's body was further forward."

It was clear from two furlongs out that the race would be a match and the front pair passed the post two and three-quarter lengths clear of Gunnevera, with other US raiders filling the next three places.

Capezzano was sent off 2-1 favourite on the back of beating Thunder Snow on Super Saturday but trailed home last of all.

The Breeders' Cup Classic, in which Thunder Snow finished third last year under a ride from Soumillon which was criticised in some quarters due to the rider's whip use, has been nominated as an end-of-season target for the winner.

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