Thunder Snow creates history with back-to-back Dubai World Cup wins

Dubai - The five-year-old son of Helmet will now be known as the first ever horse to embark on a successful title defence.

There was no rain nor there was lightning. But there was Thunder Snow.
It had been a bit overcast early on in the day but the rain didn't arrive. It thundered and snowed as history was written at the Dubai World Cup on Saturday night.
Godolphin's Thunder Snow mapped out a brilliant run under jockey Christophe Soumillon to land the richest payday in horse racing - the Dubai World Cup - for a record second time.
On a day when an astonishing $35 million prize purse was generously spread out across the nine races, Thunder Snow reigned to take home a large chunk of the $12 million.
The money was good, a cool $7.2 million for the winner, but it was not about the money. It was about history being made in the 24th renewal of the showpiece, about raising and setting a new benchmark.
The five-year-old son of Helmet will now be known as the first ever horse to embark on a successful title defence of the world's richest race.
Thunder Snow brought more records with his Emirati handler Saeed bin Suroor putting even more daylight between him and the rest of the trainers, to be in a class of his own.
The Godolphin ace has had back-to-back winners thrice before - 1999 (Almutawakel) and 2000 (Dubai Millennium), 2002 (Street Cry) and 2003 (Moon Ballad) and then 2014 (African Story) and 2015 (Prince Bishop). But this was special as he had not saddled the same horse to successive wins before.
As it stands, Suroor is the most successful trainer at the Dubai World Cup with a mind-boggling nine titles - 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2014, 2015, 2018 and now 2019.
And so too Soumillon, who became a multiple winner of the race.
For the record, it was an intense battle between Thunder Snow and Salem bin Ghadayer's Gronkowski as they headed for home. And it took a photo finish to confirm that Thunder Snow had won by the minutest of margins - by a nose.
"I really want to say big thank you to Saeed bin Suroor and Sheikh Mohammed because just before the race, he said a few words, that is, 'You need to be confident and do everything right.' Thanks to Thunder Snow, without him I wouldn't be able to such kind of things," said a beaming Soumillon.
"Thing is I promised to Saeed I will just keep the trophy and you will have the money so I have to comeback next year," the 37-year-old Belgian giggled and said.
Meanwhile, Suroor was delighted as well. "This horse is very brave. In France he won two Group 1 and also won brilliant races in Europe and America. He also came and won the World Cup twice now and also won UAE Derby. So, surely the form of horse is good," said Suroor.
"It is brilliant team work and Sheikh Mohammed had given instructions last year as well when we won and he was happy to see him win tonight again. We will take him to America," added the Emirati.
james@khaleejtimes.com