Hit Show flies home to deny Dettori Dubai World Cup joy

Hit Show produced a stunning final flourish to deny Frankie Dettori and fellow outsider Mixto victory in the Dubai World Cup at Meydan.

All eyes were on odds-on favourite Forever Young, but his challenge never materialised until it was too late as Brad Cox’s five-year-old Hit Show flew from midfield to snatch success by half a length.

As a result, Dettori remains locked with American Jerry Bailey as the most successful jockey in the race on four Dubai World Cup triumphs, while Florent Geroux secured his maiden win.

Walk Of Stars took control of proceedings early on and was clear alongside Mixto at the two-furlong marker to create a clear advantage over the rest of the field.

Forever Young, trained by Yoshito Yahagi, could not get up to speed as Mixto took the lead inside the final 200 metres and looked certain to complete a double on the day for Dettori and trainer Doug O’Neill.

However, Geroux galvanised Hit Show to power from sixth inside the final furlong to claim the £5.5million prize pot, with runner-up Mixto just holding off the fast-finishing Forever Young in third.

“It’s amazing, I had such a great trip the whole way,” said French jockey Geroux, who was second on Gun Runner behind Arrogate in 2017.

“I had to pass a lot of horses, but I could see my target and he was not travelling as well as my horse.

“I had a few anxious moments with Forever Young on the turn, but he went there with an impressive charge.

“I know my horse well and for some reason he runs strongly for me all the time.

“I’ll be honest and say I thought we were running for a place and they gave me more, so I took it. It’s amazing.

“He is a great horse but today was the cherry on the cake.”

Case Clay, American racing manager of winning owners Wathnan Racing, said: “It’s surreal! I’m so proud of Hit Show.

“The goal of Wathnan Racing is to try and purchase horses for big races for the Emir to be proud of, and Wathnan Racing to be proud of, and it’s so exciting.

“I feel privileged to buy horses in America for Wathnan Racing, and we got lucky today.

“On the home stretch, I honestly thought he’s going to make a good run for third, so I was just waiting for that. As you know, that wire takes forever to get there, which helped us.

“Then I thought ‘wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute’, and then there was a point it looked like he was going to get there – just a great feeling.

“Well that’s one of the main things that we look at when buying dirt two-turn horses in America, to win big races in the Middle East, including this one. We circle races and this is one of the big ones. This is probably the biggest.

“It was a target for a horse for Wathnan. Hit Show is the type of horse, which I think Brad Cox put it right, if it is going to be a Grade One, it has to be a target and it has to be dirt.”

With his mount picking up £1.9million for his brave efforts, Dettori said: “There’s good prize money for second! He ran superb.

“He was a genuine outsider, but I knew he was underrated because he’s a good old warrior who loves the distance and he loves an outside post. I had the perfect trip. I couldn’t complain. It’s just a shame he got beaten on the line.”