Dubai Turf results: ‘Best jockey in the world’ Ryan Moore steers Real Steel past Euro Charline

Power-packed display under a canny ride by the English jockey in the 1,800-metre contest denied the fast-finishing Euro Charline, ridden by Frankie Dettori, while Godolphin’s Tryster took third, writes Geoffrey Riddle.

Jockey Ryan Moore, right, riding Real Steel wins the Race 7 Dubai Turf sponsored by DP World during the Dubai World Cup at the Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.  Satish Kumar / The National
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Dubai// Japan strengthened their association with the Dubai Turf when Ryan Moore inspired Real Steel to become their second winner in three years of the $6 million (Dh22m) event at Meydan on Saturday.

Real Steel produced a power-packed display under a canny ride by the English jockey in the 1,800-metre contest to deny the fast-finishing Euro Charline, ridden by Frankie Dettori, while Godolphin’s Tryster picked up the pieces to finish third.

It was not the prettiest of performances by Moore, but it was certainly effective for the first time he had ridden the four-year-old colt and trainer Yoshito Yahagi was certainly impressed.

“He is the best jockey in the world and I trust him fully,” the trainer said. “If he had lost that race there would have been no explanation needed.

“All the time throughout the race I was confident the horse could win in this field.”

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And there could be a lot more to come. Real Steel was hardly the picture of cool and calm in the preliminaries and with a little more maturity the sky could well be the limit.

“He was relaxed before he got to the racecourse but then he got hot when he arrived,” Shunsuke Yoshida, of the Sunday Racing ownership team, said. “He has had four months off though and during that time he got taller and stronger and he can improve some more.”

Tryster was slow to break, but the JebelHatta winner was in no hurry as he was anchored at the rear of the field byWilliam Buick.

UAE champion jockey Tadhg O’Shea drove Ghaamer up to the front early on and took the lead from Godolphin’s Very Special, who was bidding to deliver trainer Saeed Bin Suroor his sixth success in the Group 1 contest.

Moore, who was drawn wide in gate 14 of 15, had to track over on Real Steel and the pack refused to let him in and he was stuck with little cover on the outside of Mike De Kock’s Forries Waltz.

As Ghaamer understandably started to fall away in the straight, Very Special looked to be still full of petrol and 400 metres out she was two lengths clear of her pursuers.

Tryster was still left with a great deal of ground to make up and was still in 12th spot as Moore galvanized his mount to close the gap up front.

Dettori was also all hands to the pumps aboard Euro Charline, who burst out of the pack as Tryster came with a scything run down the outside.

In 20 strides Real Steel had pulled up alongside Very Special and crushed her spirit before going on to hold off the late thrust of Euro Charline by half a length.

When Just A Way won the Dubai Turf in 2014 by just over six lengths connections were so impressed by his finishing power that they decided to run their horse in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe over 600 metres further. Real Steel has run well in the past over the Arc distance of 2,400 metres, but Moore believes the son of Deep Impact is better over shorter.

“I was caught three deep and the horse in front of me started to stop so I had to send my horse to the front earlier than I wanted to,” he said.

“It is fair to say he tired at the end and I think any where from a mile to ten furlongs is perfect for him.”

William Buick was delighted with Tryster’s run in third and the Jebel Hatta hero will now be taken back to England where he is unlikely to be seen until at least Royal Ascot in June.

“He ran great,” the jockey said. “He missed the break but that is what he does when he runs his best races. It is by far the best run of his life and he’s been beaten genuinely by racing the best way for him.”]

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