Dubai: Nine years after the great Cigar and Soul of the Matter fought an epic battle in the Dubai World Cup (G1), Pleasantly Perfect and Medaglia d’Oro waged a classic contest reminiscent of the historic inaugural race held at Nad Al Sheba racecourse.
The much-publicised rematch of the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), pitched two of America’s best middle distance horses against each other for the second time before a record crowd of 50,000 euphoric fans.
Little did they know that they were in for a thriller that would have them on their feet for most of the 2,000-metre race featuring 12 challengers including runners from South Africa, Japan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
As the gates flew open, American hope Fleetstreet Dance led in the early stages, before four-time Dubai World Cup-winning jockey Jerry Bailey took over the running on the Bobby Frankel-trained favourite Medaglia d’Oro at the top of the home straight.
Meanwhile, Alex Solis responded by giving chase aboard the Richard Mandella-trained Pleasantly Perfect, and the pair drew away, leaving the rest of the field to battle it out for the minor placings.
Solis went for broke aboard Pleasantly Perfect and began to wear down Medaglia d’Oro. But the battle wasn’t over yet.
Bailey was hard at work and seemed to conquer up some hidden reserves from his mount to stubbornly hold on to his narrow lead. The two American horses disputed the final furlong, matching each other stride-for-stride, but in the end it was Pleasantly Perfect who proved superior, just as he had done in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and went on to win by three-quarters of a length.
Victory Moon, trained in South Africa by Mike de Kock, ran on for third place, with UAE hope Grand Hombre in fourth for Godolphin.
Frankel was delighted with the result and would famously say: “I got this horse as a baby, he demanded time. I gave it to him and it paid off.”
Pleasantly Perfect was retired at the end of the 2004 season and entered stud the following year at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky.
His first offspring to race was Rapid Redux, who would win the Eclipse Special Award in 2011.
