Well, he made that look easy.

Mendelssohn, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last November, won Saturday's Group 2 United Arab Emirates Derby with minimal effort, booking a place in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5.

The winner of the $2 million UAE Derby earned 100 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, more than enough to gain a berth among the 20 starters in the famous race.

Ridden by Ryan Moore, Mendelssohn took the lead shortly after the start and was never threatened by his eight rivals. Gold Town, the dominant 3-year-old in Dubai this year, was under a ride on the turn of the race at 1 3-16ths miles and faded from contention to finish fourth.

Mendelssohn won by 18 1-2 lengths over the filly Rayya, who was three lengths in front of Reride. Rayya won the UAE Oaks on March 1. She is scheduled to join trainer Bob Baffert's stable in the near future and is a candidate for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 4.

Reride, trained by Steve Asmussen, was the only American-based 3-year-old in the UAE Derby. Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, Reride won the Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park on Feb. 25.

Mendelssohn, a Kentucky bred by Scat Daddy, races for the Coolmore team of Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor and Susan Magnier and is trained in Ireland by Aidan O'Brien. This was Mendelssohn's second start of 2018. He won the $92,300 Patton Stakes on the all-weather surface at Dundalk, Ireland on March 9 in a prep race for the UAE Derby, which was the colt's first start on dirt.

Prior to the BC Juvenile Turf, Mendelssohn had three starts, including a second in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on turf at Newmarket, England, last October.