Dubai World Cup, an Italian triumph

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Dubai: Just hours after winning Saturday's $10 million (Dh36.74 million) Dubai World Cup (Group 1) aboard Japan's Victoire Pisa, winning jockey Mirco Demuro was boarding a plane bound for Marino, a small Italian city and comune in Lazio.

Back in Dubai, the celebrations were just starting to pick up among the Japanese contingent.

Demuro would have had star billing at the post-race party but, instead he chose to fly back to his native Italy, to celebrate his greatest win with his family. Demuro is no stranger to big-race glory, having won the Italian Derby (Group 1) and the Japan Cup (Grade 1), but this victory was different — he had won the richest race in the world, and he wanted to celebrate in a more intimate way.

But prior to packing his bags he spoke about his feelings upon winning and about how he wished this victory would change his life.

"Everybody in Italy said that I was the next Frankie Dettori, but I am far away from that at the moment," he said through gleary eyes.

"Yes, this win does bring me in the limelight and I wish my life would change, but I really doubt this. I am not in as yet."

Hinh on emotion

Describing how he felt as he crossed the finish line ahead of fellow Japanese horse Transcend, Demuro said: "It's an emotion that can't be described. It's an astonishing fact, simply a historic victory.

"But this is an unbelievable and fantastic win for me. My horse wants pace and I had to really be canny and clever during the race. Maybe I did get lucky a bit and we managed to get a place despite getting caught in the back. The home stretch was very long. It never seemed to be ending. But this is a lovely horse who loves pace and I was confident he would do it."

Demuro, 32, does not even have a full licence to ride in Japan. Every season for the past 13 years he has flown to Japan where he rides off a temporary licence. He was in the saddle when Victoire Pisa beat Buena Vista by a nose to win the Arima Kinen (The Grand Prix) (Grade 1) (Turf) at Nakayama racecourse last Decmeber and again when the four-year-old colt landed the Nakayama Kinen (Grade 2) at the same racecourse just last month.

Singling out Victoire Pisa as the best horse he has ever ridden he revealed how he feared the worst for the horse when it hit it's head against the gates at the start of Saturday's big-race.

"At the start I was afraid I had jeopardised everything. Victoire Pisa is a great starter, but he hit his head on the gate and took off like a snail," Demuro said. "I was hoping to start off as one of the first, but I found myself toward the back.

The final sprint

"Transcend, another Japanese horse, had set a mild pace to the race. The only possible move was to push up and reach him to face the final sprint from the best possible position."

He did and matched the leaders Cape Blanco from Ireland and Gio Ponti, America's hope, stride for stride. While Shinji Fujita had found a strong rhythm with Trasncend teenage French jockey Mickael Barzalona's horse Monterosso was making threatening strides.

But Demuro's horse was doing the best work at the finish and ran on gamely to overtake Transcend, while Monterosso finished in third place.

As Victoire Pisa crossed the finish line, Demuro let out a battle cry that would surely have been heard all around the racecourse. History had been made, and he was part of it.

 
Top