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| Staff Writer |
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California-based conditioner Doug O'Neill isn't the smallest bit hesitant to showcase his horses on the foreign stage when he has the right one to do so. On 5 April, the 56-year-old will send out Gr.1 winner Raging Torrent in an attempt to win the Gr.2 Godolphin Mile for the third time in his career and the second time in succession.
"It's a real honor to have a horse that's classy enough to travel to meetings like this," said O'Neill, a two-time winner of the Gr.1 Kentucky Derby whose success overseas includes a victory with one-time claiming horse Fleetstreet Dancer in the Japan Cup Dirt in 2003. "It's great for the whole crew and the owners, so I'm just grateful to be working alongside an equine athlete that's so gifted and so classy to take us to a race like this."
A US$75,000 purchase from the Breeze-Up sales in Ocala, Florida, in 2023, the bay colt was an impressive debut winner at Del Mar two summers ago, but his true coming-out party happened around this time last year at Churchill Downs when he won a seven-furlong allowance race by a wide margin in a slick time.
"He's always been very impressive since he's been out running, but that race at Churchill was like, 'whoa, OK,'" he said. "To travel away from his home base and to run that sort of race, we knew we were on to something. That's when we decided we might have something pretty special."
Two races later, Raging Torrent found himself lining up against the mighty The Chosen Vron, arguably the best California-bred sprinter of all time, in the Gr.2 Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar. After laying down strong fractions up front, Raging Torrent was headed by his older rival with time ticking away, but he battled back tenaciously to win by a neck and punch his ticket to the Breeders' Cup.
"That was a pretty special race because The Chosen Vron is a legend," said O'Neill. "Horses eyeball him and typically back up, but Raging Torrent really showed how tough he is that day."
Only seventh to recent Gr.2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint hero and US champion Straight No Chaser in the Gr.1 Breeders' Cup Sprint, Raging Torrent had the services of one Frankie Dettori for the first time in the Gr.1 Malibu Stakes and easily validated 12-5 favouritism in that Boxing Day feature.
"We circled the Godolphin Mile after the Malibu," said O'Neill, who will look to make it back-to-back wins in the Mile after Two Rivers Over—a son of fellow Godolphin Mile hero Tamarkuz—ran down Walk of Stars in the shadow of the post 12 months ago.
O'Neill, whose other Mile success came with Spring At Last in 2007, is counting his blessings to have a jockey in the irons who knows his way around Meydan.
"Having Frankie in the saddle, arguably one of the best of all time, it's a great asset," he said. "He knows him well; he's worked for him and won on him so it's definitely a big plus."
Raging Torrent turned in his most serious piece of work at O'Neill's Santa Anita base on 9 March, going six furlongs [1200m] in a stiff 1:12.20. He's since had a couple of easier maintenance moves, but the trainer said the colt is sitting on ready and has taken the long trip from California to Dubai in his stride.
"Yeah, he shipped great, his appetite has been really good, and his energy level is excellent as well according to my staff, so it's so far, so good," he commented.
And while a look at his early form shows that Raging Torrent struggled with distances up to a mile and a bit farther, O'Neill said next weekend's trip holds no concerns.
"Not at all, I think the one-turn mile is the key," he said. "He's got tons of stamina. He's a little more precocious than [Spring at Last and Two Rivers Over], who were two wonderful horses, but he's got that six-furlong sort of speed, and he can stay a mile. He checks all the boxes and now we just need to stay injury-free between now and the race."
O'Neill said Raging Torrent would get a bit of a leg-stretch this coming weekend and he will be at Meydan to oversee final preparations from 3 April.
This year's Dubai World Cup card falls a week later than is traditionally the case, taking place on 5 April. This scheduling, largely driven by the dates of Ramadan, creates an unusually crowded day of global racing with the Grand National steeplechase at Aintree and three major Kentucky Derby prep races—the Gr.1 Blue Grass Stakes, Gr.1 Santa Anita Derby, and Gr.2 Wood Memorial Stakes—all taking place on the same day. Race times at Meydan have been carefully positioned to complement these fixtures, with the Gr.1 Golden Shaheen and Gr.1 Dubai Turf scheduled around the Grand National's 4 p.m. British Summer Time start.