February 4, 2022 
It wasn’t a gimme, but nothing has ever been for the little horse that finished third in the Kentucky Derby (G1), ran his heart out for second place to Essential Quality in the Belmont Stakes (G1), and finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) after eventually scoring a win in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1).
Hot Rod Charlie traveled 8,399 miles in January to become familiar with the climate, the racetrack and maybe the tasty local food in preparation for a preparation race before the Mar. 26 Dubai World Cup (G1) and, as we sometimes say in media, preparation is 90 percent of the show.
“Chuck,” as his legion of U.S. fans refer to him, was once again challenged in the stretch as he was in the Belmont. But this time he pulled away from fellow invader, Britain’s Al Nefud, to win the 1,900-meter (9 furlong), $250,000 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 (G2) over the dirt at Meydan.
William Buick, substituting for regular rider Flavien Prat, guided the winner from the #11 post to the rail in swift order. Hot Rod Charlie was well-placed throughout the race with Al Nefud holding a slight lead through the backstretch and Hot Rod Charlie a breath behind. As they turned for home, he and Al Nefud traded nose leads in a stretch duel before the game Briton relinquished the lead and a five-and-a-quarter-length victory to his equally game challenger. Everlast finished a distant third.
“We thought he was about 70 percent fit,” said trainer Doug O’Neill before the race, expressing caution and some lack of concern about the eventual outcome. Preparation for the World Cup was the point.
“He was smooth. He came back hard [when challenged],” explained Buick during a post-race interview. “He had a race. I was confident he’d respond to me when Al Nefud put the pressure on. Listen, in these good dirt races, you never get them handed to you.”
Currently ranked the world’s fifth leading rider, Buick expressed pleasure at the opportunity to pick up Chuck, his second winner on the night for O’Neill.
“I’m in a very privileged position, first and foremost riding for Godolphin,” he acknowledged. “But to pick up these rides for Doug and his team…it really does excite me. They’re great horses, trained to perfection when they come over here. It’s a real joy.”
That joy is unlikely to carry over to Dubai World Cup night as Buick is destined to be aboard a world-leading owner Godolphin entry. He rode Magny Cours to a third-place finish in last year’s race for that home team.
Prat is currently the world’s number two-ranked jockey with 1946 points as of Feb. 1, a mere 7 points in front of both Lanfranco “Frankie” Dettori and Joel Rosario, both tied with 1939 points. Buick has earned 1913.
Though a prestigious achievement, only two winners in the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 have gone on to win the Dubai World Cup in the same year since the race’s inception in 1994: Moon Ballad (2003) and Thunder Snow (2018), also the winner of the 2019 World Cup.
Prince Bishop won the World Cup (2015) the year after his 2014 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 win. He finished second in the race to Frankyfourfingers in 2015.
This race’s winningest jockey is Dettori with five scores, Saeed bin Suroor its leading trainer with 12 wins and owner Godolphin has hoisted the trophy on 10 occasions.
There are several other possible U.S. entries and leading trainers who may make their way to Dubai for the $12 million World Cup. There is current 2021 Kentucky Derby runner-up, Brad Cox-trained Mandaloun. Second-place finisher to Mandaloun in the Louisiana Stakes(G3) and to Hot Rod Charlie in both the Louisiana Derby (G2) and Pennsylvania Derby, Midnight Bourbon, saddled by Steve Asmussen, may trot over to Dubai as well. Both are currently in training for the $20 million Saudi World Cup (G1), to be run Feb. 26 in nearby Riyadh.
Looming in the background is another pretty good horse, Life Is Good, the runaway winner of this year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and last Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup (G1). Trainer Todd Pletcher has said little post-Pegasus about the horse many regard as the finest racehorse currently in training other than to mention “Dubai is on the table.”
Hot Rod Charlie has captured the hearts of American race fans because of his relatively small stature and his courageous running style. That plucky style led him to easily winning the fan-voted Vox Populi Award sponsored by Secretariat.com.
A race that pits the very talented Life Is Good against the very gutsy Hot Rod Charlie may conjure up memories of the famous 1938 match race between Triple Crown winner War Admiral and another small horse with a big heart, Seabiscuit. When fans talk about Chuck, “The ‘Biscuit” often comes up in conversation.
On Nov. 6 at Del Mar, scores of Hot Rod Charlie boosters, perhaps a little boosted, gathered near the track as the horses loaded for the start of the Classic. They screamed in unison: “Let’s Go, Chuck! Let’s Go, Chuck!”
It’s unlikely many of those followers will journey to faraway Dubai for a repeat performance Mar. 26. But Hot Rod Charlie’s performance in the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 may have won him scores more followers in Dubai.
So, viewers on Dubai World Cup night may find themselves hearing the phrase “Yadhhab, Chuck!”
That’s “Let’s Go, Chuck!”—in Arabic.
