Maybe trainer Bret Calhoun played motivational tapes in Dubai Majesty’s stall. Whatever he did obviously worked because the mare each year has gone out and bettered her performances until finally she reached the top—a Breeders’ Cup victory followed by the Jan. 17 announcement that she was voted an Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter.
Bred by Harold J. Plumley in Florida, the daughter of Essence of Dubai—Great Majesty, by Great Above, began as a Calder claimer at 2 in 2007. She worked her way up to graded stakes-placed by the middle of 2008, when Bill and Stephanie Martin and Dan Morgan bought her. The next year brought her a graded stakes victory. But that was nothing compared with her improvement in 2010.
Dubai Majesty went from a second against Florida-breds and California-breds in the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Sprint to a stakes win on turf and graded stakes victories on dirt and synthetic surfaces. She never shied away from traveling either. Throughout her 10 starts in 2010, Dubai Majesty competed on seven different racetracks in six different states.
“It’s very rare to have a filly that handles all types of surfaces,” said Calhoun.
That versatility, coupled with wins in the Winning Colors Stakes (gr. III), Incredible Revenge Stakes, and Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (gr. II), raised a $90,000 question for the Martins and Morgan. Should they supplement Dubai Majesty to the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I)?
The owners gulped and rolled the dice, believing their mare deserved her chance in the national spotlight. It helped that Dubai Majesty would be running at Churchill Downs, of all the surfaces perhaps her favorite.
As only the seventh choice in the 13-horse Breeders’ Cup field, Dubai Majesty listened to one final motivational tape, or perhaps to jockey Jamie Theriot’s voice in her ear. She stormed home to win by 2 1⁄4 lengths, proving worthy of that $90,000 gamble and of a championship.
Another indication of her value came two days after the Breeders’ Cup, when she sold for $1.1 million at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November breeding stock sale. Shunsuke Yoshida bought her for his father, Northern Farm owner Katsumi Yoshida, and said she would be retired and sent to Japan to be bred.
Voting for female sptinter:
Dubai Majesty, 232; Franny Freud, 3; Rightly So, 2; Serious Attitude, 1.
