DUBAI MILLENNIUM
©Trevor Jones
2000 - DUBAI MILLENNIUM
In the summer of 1998, Sheikh Mohammed accompanied trainer David Loder around evening stables and audaciously changed the name of the then unraced two-year-old named Yaazer to Dubai Millennium.
By Seeking The Gold out of Colorado Dancer, he was regally-bred and a stunning specimen who had been exciting Loder, but even so it was a remarkable act of faith and confidence to imagine that this immature, unraced colt could win the Dubai World Cup in the millennium year.
As time passed after that summer evening, the chances of Dubai Millennium fulfilling the dream looked ever more hopeful. He had won his two-year-old maiden for Loder, tasted his only career defeat when excited prior to the Derby at Epsom but rounded off 1999 with a 6-length victory in the Group One Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, his sixth career win.
He warmed up for the 2000 Dubai World Cup with a course-record success at Nad Al Sheba before facing 12 rivals in the big race, including the likes of Behrens, Malek and Hong Kong star Indigenous. There was only going to be one winner as Dubai Millennium made all and shot clear under Frankie Dettori to a stunning 6-length triumph from Behrens.
Dubai Millennium went on to an amazing 8-length triumph in the Group One Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot before injury cut short his racing career. Tragically he died of grass sickness after just one season at stud.
"It may be overstating things to say that a horse such as Dubai Millennium comes along once every thousand years, but he is certainly a good deal more than a horse in a thousand. In a staggering performance at Nad Al Sheba on Saturday, he entwined many strands in the rope hauling Godolphin towards new summits," was the assessment of Chris McGrath in The Times.
Graham Rock of The Observer wrote: "The Maktoum family cannot bet but they took a considerable gamble in naming an unnamed two-year-old Dubai Millennium. That audacious confidence paid an incalculable dividend when the horse chosen for glory won the Dubai World Cup in a style that surprised even his most faithful admirers.
"In the glow of victory, Frankie Dettori said that Dubai Millennium was the best horse he had ever ridden."
Richard Eng of the Las Vegas Review-Journal exclaimed: "You might never have heard of Dubai Millennium. But after Saturday's $6 million Dubai World Cup from Nad Al Sheba racecourse, you might never forget him.
"His exhilarating win was a bravura performance that elicited 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the most jaded viewers. The son of Seeking The Gold not only defeated the best handicap horses in the world. He annihilated them. In track record time.
"His mastery recalled images of Secretariat's 31-length triumph in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. Of Arazi's electrifying burst in the 1991 Breeders' Cup Juvenile. You need one hand to count those memories."
Colin Mackenzie in The Daily Mail wrote: "Every decade or so one is privileged to witness an athletic performance so full of power and grace that it stills the heart and mind. Dubai Millennium's record-breaking win at Nad Al Sheba racecourse on Saturday evening was such a moment."
Sue Montgomery of The Independent On Sunday added: "Dubai Millennium fulfilled an extraordinary destiny with an extraordinary performance to win the fifth running of the $6m Dubai World Cup, the world's richest horse race, here in the Emirates last night. Like a dust storm from the desert, the imposing four-year-old simply blew an international field apart under Frankie Dettori, making every yard of the running to win by 6 lengths in a new track record time."
Veteran broadcaster Julian Wilson remarked: "It was a quite stunning performance. I've always been a fan, but he exceeded the belief and expectations I had for him, certainly in a tough race like that where I thought his relative inexperience might find him out."