The Animal Conquers the World

Tweet

The Animal

If you've ever seen the SpongeBob movie, you may remember my favorite scene when SpongeBob runs into the evil amoeba Plankton and he blurts out at SpongeBob "I will rule the world" and SpongeBob pauses before replying, "Good luck with that" and keeps on walking. Early this afternoon, Animal Kingdom took some of the world's best to task at Meydan Racecourse in winning the $10 Dubai World Cup. You could say at the moment he rules the racing world. What an awesome next week of racing we have in store around the world. Next week, the Grand National kicks off so be sure to check out the Aintree Grand National betting site to take advantage of wagering on this tremendous racing event that opens on April 4 at Aintree Racecourse in the UK .

Speaking of the UK, the Animal's next stop is scheduled to be Royal Ascot. How cool would it be if he retires with victories at Churchill Downs (Kentucky Derby), Meydan (Dubai World Cup) and finishes it off in a big turf race at Ascot. I wonder if any horse has ever won at all three tracks? As reported in December, a majority share of his breeding rights were acquired by John Messara's Australia-based Arrowfield Stud.

What a terrific training job by Graham Motion who had the faith to stay with rider Joel Rosario after a controversial ride in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap last month and to have him fit and ready to roll after the long trek to Dubai. I was feeling pretty good for him as he sat off the pace and then made his move just as they rounded the final turn. He looked super impressive and adds a win on the Tapeta to wins on the Polytrack (Turfway), dirt (Churchill) and turf (Gulfstream). Too bad we won't see him again in the States.

The rest of the day wasn't so great for the other American horses, as many just didn't fire. It's the second straight disappointment in the DWC for Royal Delta, who I'm sure we haven't heard the last of.

This afternoon the racing continues to get better with great cards at the Fair Grounds and Gulfstream Park highlighted by the Louisiana Derby and Florida Derby, respectively. NBC Sports Network (6 p.m. EDT) will telecast both races and will continue to cover the key prep races for the next three weeks. My TBN article in this morning's paper on the two American races.

You couldn't ask for a better day of racing.