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The Gr.2 UAE Derby has been dominated by winners trained by Saeed bin Suroor with Godolphin’s longest-serving trainer having prepared eight winners since the first running in 2000.
Worth US$1 million and run over 1900m Bin Suroor did not have a runner on this occasion but a quality field of 13 saw the trip with reigning winning trainer Koichi Shintani having Goraiko in this year’s edition.
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The Aidan O’Brien-trained Cairo was heavily fancied prior to the race with the ownership of Tabor, Magnier & Smith having seen three winners in past editions, as recently as Mendelssohn in 2018.
Derma Sotogake was taken to the lead with Cairo left to sit fourth for the opening stages before with 500m left to run Japanese runners held the leading three spots, with Dura Erede taking the lead.
In the end, the flag of Japan was flown by the first three with Christophe Lemaire onboard the winner Derma Sotogake, trained by Hidetaka Otonashi. Dura Erede was the runner-up with Continuar finishing third.
The winner is now lined up with a shot at the Kentucky Derby as he made every step of the UAE Derby in a 1900m contest dominated by Japanese horses.
Trainer Hidetaka Otonashi was rewarded with a win from his first UAE runner in a moment he will never forget.
"It's my first time here and Derma Sotogake is my first-ever runner. Now, I have one runner and one winner - it doesn't get much better than that!
"We didn't exactly plan to go straight to the lead but he broke well. We were expecting him to improve and go well but you can never expect things to go that well. We had a different jockey and different ground so you can never be sure how well it works out, but it did.
"He will go straight to Kentucky from Dubai. We'll discuss it but Christophe will probably keep it - he said he would anyway!"
Switzerland was ready and primed to lay it all down to take back-to-back Gr.1 Golden Shaheens after winning last year and going on to win a Gr.3 Dubawi Stakes earlier this year.
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The 9YO trained by Bhupat Seemar had a strong field to contest his title which included Lemon Pop and multiple Stakes winner Gunite, trained by Steve Asmussen.
With 1200m to run the gates flew open with the field breaking well and Tuz along with Hopkins under Frankie Dettori going to the lead.
Pace quickened with Sound Money for Bhupat Seemar taking the lead but in the final stages, Switzerland flew down the outside matching it with Sibelius but Switzerland was left to berunner-upp with Jeremiah O’Dwyer-trained Sibelius winning under Ryan Moore.
The win was off the back of an insane finish with Ryan Moore storming home on his mount as he did onboard Broome in the Gr.2 Dubai Gold Cup.
In doing so he gave Irishman Jeremiah O’Dwyer by far the biggest win of his career, with the trainer acknowledging the moment post-race.
"The race worked out quite the way I had predicted. You know you can read these races a hundred times but it will never go the same way. To be honest, he just sat back in the gates and was a bit slow but when you have a master rider like Ryan Moore, he gets you out of trouble.
"It really is a proud moment for us. I am grateful to the owners. They let me do what is best with the horse every step of the way and never interfere.
"He trains like a good horse, he acts like a good horse, he rides like a good horse.
"Junior Alvarado gave him his last breeze before we shipped out. He was not able to make it over and there's some Derby trials and big handicaps in America so he could not be here.
Ryan Moore, one of the greatest jockeys going around currently also commented on how the run played out.
"I was very lucky to pick up the ride. He actually stepped a little slowly, I was a half-length further behind than I wanted to be. We had a charmed run, they just drifted off which meant we didn't have to change lanes and the horse dug in really deep. He showed a lot of courage and heart to get there.
"He has form over a little bit further which I think really helped too."
Switzerland who ran second was piloted by Jockey Championship leader, Tadhg O’Shea who is friends with O’Dwyer in actual fact.
"He's a tough horse. He's done everything right, he's just unfortunate to come out the wrong side of a photo, but he's lost nothing in defeat,” O’Shea said.
"It’s hard to get beat like that; he did everything right. These horses if you take care of them they pay you back. We had a plan to just give him two races and keep the miles off his legs and I thought we had it there,” trainer Bhupat Seemar added.
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