Son Of Helmet Wins Dubai World Cup

The international standing of Australian shuttle sire Helmet skyrocketed when his outstanding son Thunder Snow ran away with the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan on Saturday.

Godolphin owned and bred Thunder Snow left the US star West Coast in his wake by almost six lengths as he sped to a track record time of 2:01.38 for the 2000m.

Thunder Snow, the eighth Dubai World Cup trained by Saaed bin Suroor for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is now a triple G1 winner and a standout among the progeny Helmet has sired in Australia and Europe.

A son of the acclaimed Australian sire Exceed And Excel, Helmet won three G1 races in Australia including the 2011 Caulfield Guineas but has not had a sighnificant impact in this country as a sire with the best of his local progeny being the G3 winners Archives and Limestone.

However his UK-bred son Thunder Snow has now won G1 races in each of his two, three and four-year-old seasons. Helmet’s other northern hemisphere products include Italian classic winner Anda Muchacho, winner of six of his seven starts, and the highly rated stakes winners Eqtiraan and Taamol.

Thunder Snow won the G1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud as a juvenile and the G1 Prix Jean Prat last season at Chantilly.

He is a son of the Dubai Destination mare Eastern Joy, a leading broodmare whose first five foals have all been stakes winners including Group winners Ihtimal (Shamardal), First Victory (Teofilo), Royal Ascot stakes winner Always Smile (Cape Cross) and this seasons UAE 1000 Guineas heroine Winter Lightning (Shamardal).

Thunder Snow has now won seven times and placed in another seven of his 18 career starts earning more than 6 million pounds.

Eastern Joy is a half-sister to G1 winner West Wind (Machiavellian) and stakes winner Redbridge (Alleged).

This is also the family of champion filly Balanchine (Storm Bird), Australian G1 winner Trust In A Gust (Keep The Faith) and G2 winners Red Slippers (Nureyev) and Romanov (Nureyev

World Cup night was another memorable event for Sheikh Mohammed as horses carrying his Godolphin silks won four of the eight feature races.

Joining Thunder Snow were the Charlie Appleby-trained pair Jungle Cat (Al Quoz Sprint) and Hawkbill (Sheema Classic) while bin Suroor won the Dubai Turf with Benbatl.

BENBATL: The G1 Dubai Turf (1800m) winers is by Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) and became his sire’s 35th G1 winner.

He had previously won the G3 Singspiel Stakes (1800m) and G2 Al Rashidiya (1800m) at Meydan and ran out a clear winner over last year’s winner Vivlos (Deep Impact) by three and a quarter lengths.

The 4YO Benbatl (Dubawi x Nahrain by Selkirk) has now won five times and placed in three of his 11 career starts for prize money in excess of £3 million.

He is the only foal to race from the dual G1 winning mare Nahrain (Selkirk), a half-sister to dual Listed winner Baharah (Elusive Quality).

His second dam is the G2 Ribblesdale Stakes winner Bahr (Generous), who produced six winners and is a half-sister to the G3-winner and stakes-producer Clerio (Soviet Star).

The family includes the Australian G1 winner He’s Our Rokkii (Roc De Cambes).

HAWKBILL: The 5YO entire is by Kitten’s Joy from the Giant;s Causeway mare Trensa and has now won seven stakes races including the G1 Eclipse Stakes among his 10 wins from 20 starts. His prizemoney stands at more than £3 million.

He is one of four named foals out of the G3-placed mare Trensa, making him a half-brother to the G1-winning two-year-old Free Drop Billy (Union Rags).

His second dam is the G1 winner Serape (Fappiano) with the family featuring G1 winner Tiz Miz Sue (Tiznow) and G3 winners Batique (Storm Cat) and Sue’s Good News (Woodman).

JUNGLE CAT: The 6YO entire is a son of the shuttle sire (Iffraaj and took advantage of the late scratching of his stablemate and favourite Blue Point to win the Al Quoz Sprint.

Jungle Cat defeated Stormy Liberal and Conquest Tsunami, both sons of Stormy Atlantic, while the Australian-trained runners Illustrious Lad (I Am Invincible) , Faatinah (Nicconi) and Music Magnate (Written Tycoon) were unplaced.

Jungle Cat has now won seven races and placed in 12 of his 30 career starts.

He is one of eight winners from the stakes-winner Mike’s Wildcat (Forest Wildcat) and is a half-brother to the G3-placed Texas Wildcatter (Monarchos). This family includes G2 winners Ardanza (Slew Machine) and Madrileño (Apprentice).

Iffraaj is now the sire of nine G1 winners including Ribchester who will shuttle to Australia for the first time this year. He is also sire of the champion juvenile Wootton Bassett, sire of the NZ and Australian classic winners Gingernuts, Jon Snow and Turn Me Loose.

MIND YOUR BISCUITS: A huge finish from last carried him to back-to-back wins in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, making him the only G1 winer on the night not owned by Godolphin.

Mind Your Biscuits is a US-trained 5YO son of Posse from Jazzmane (Toccet) and has now won seven and placed in 11 of his 21 career starts for prize money of $US3.5 million.

He is one of four winning foals out of the unraced Jazzmane, a half-sister to the stakes winner Kimchi (Langfuhr), while this is also the same family as stakes winners Dargai (It’s Freezing), Grasse (Green Perfume), Open Skies (Defrere) and Deep Bottom (Lone Star Special).

The other thoroughbred winners on the night were Heavy Metal, a son of Exceed And Excel in the G2 Godolphin Mile who has now won three Group races this year amonmg 15 career wins, and Manduro’s son Vazirabad, who landed the G2 Dubai Gold Cup in record time for the third successive year.

He is now the winner of 12 Group races, more than any other current European-trained performer.