Business And Pleasure As Dubai Bounces Back

DUBAI, UAE–After an abandoned meeting in 2020 and a behind-closed-doors reprisal 12 months ago, the Dubai Racing Club will be itching to stage a back-to-normal Dubai World Cup on Saturday with an international cast of stars.

In fact, the week's activities are not quite as they would usually be as the race programme is enhanced by the inclusion of the first Dubai Breeze-up Sale at Meydan on Wednesday, hosted in association with Goffs. The 69 juveniles catalogued shipped in to Dubai last week with quite the fanfare, as branded horseboxes were filmed transporting the youngsters from the airport to Meydan's quarantine facility, where they have been familiarising themselves with their new surroundings over the last few days.

It may be the first sale of its kind in the Gulf, with a strong emphasis on American-bred horses – 37 of the 69 in the book bear the USA suffix – but there's a decidedly Irish feel to the consignor list, with all the major vendors one would expect to find at the European breeze-up sales. The background to the sale was explored in some depth by Nancy Sexton in a recent TDN feature and the final touches to the preparations were made in Monday morning's practice breeze in front of plenty of onlookers. Dress rehearsals over, come Tuesday at 7.45am the horses will step out in earnest. They will not, however, be pushed out in an attempt to clock a fast time, as is the norm at these sales whether or not they include official timing, but will instead be asked to perform a gentle two-furlong breeze.

As the sale co-ordinator Tom Taaffe of Goffs told TDN recently, “It's early in the year and a lot of these horses won't be running until November at the earliest. They'll have to be let down afterwards and acclimatise for a few months before going into pre-training. So there'll be no timing and no stride-pattern figures, it'll be all about allowing prospective purchasers to see that the horses can move well.”

Sounds very refreshing, especially with the mercury on the climb into the low 30s in Dubai.

And so to the main action: the 26th running of the $12 million Dubai World Cup. As has routinely been the case, first at Nad Al Sheba, now at Meydan, the race does have a properly global feel to it, with runners from the UAE being joined by rivals from America, Uruguay, Japan and France, with perhaps the most multi-national of them all being Grocer Jack, a German-bred, Saudi-owned 5-year-old trained in Britain.

Arguably the starriest in the line-up is the sensational Breeders' Cup Mile winner Life Is Good (Into Mischief). Since his near-exhibition round at Del Mar, the 4-year-old went on to trounce the Breeders' Cup Classic winner Knicks Go (Paynter) in the latter's swansong in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational. Life Is Good has looked a picture of composure under his English-born work rider Amelia Green in his easy exercises at Meydan in the countdown to Saturday. His trainer Todd Pletcher is set to arrive in Dubai on Tuesday and bids to become the tenth American-based trainer to lift the Dubai World Cup.

An American challenge with strength in depth is completed by Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), the winner of his only previous start at Meydan last month, dual Grade I-placed Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), and the recent G1 Saudi Cup runner-up and enemy of the spell-checker, Country Grammer (Tonalist).

The recent Saudi Cup drew a similarly international line-up and, despite the pride of the event's organisers at having been backed by some of the biggest names in world racing, it was nothing compared to the delirium of the local crowd when the race was won by the Riyadh-trained Emblem Road (Quality Road) to give a major lift to the Mitab Almulawah stable.

No doubt similar scenes would unfold at Meydan if Bhupat Seemar, who is set to become champion trainer in his first year with a licence at Zabeel Stables, could set the seal on a truly memorable season by winning the big one with Remorse (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

“I'm very fortunate to be in this position, and in my first season it's great that we have a runner in the World Cup itself,” said Seemar, who took over from his uncle, Satish, in November. 

“You've got to be realistic. You're going in the world's biggest race with some of the top dirt horses in the world. Yes, we've improved from 80 to 111 but strange things do happen in races; the pace could collapse or something could happen. Remorse is such an honest horse and so far all he's done is improve, so hopefully we can keep him healthy for the race and get a good draw.”

Another hero of the most recent Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), returns to action for the first time since his triumph in the Turf and leads a team of five runners on the night from the Charlie Appleby stable. The quintet includes the recent G3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint winner Man Of Promise (Into Mischief), one of three for the trainer in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint. 

As progressive as Yibir was last season, he will face no easy task in a G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic line-up which features a fierce challenge from Japan, notably Authority (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), recent winner of the Neom Turf Cup in Riyadh, dual Hong Kong Vase winner Glory Vase (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), and last year's Japanese Derby and Oaks winners, Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Uberleben (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}). These are just four of a 23-strong raiding party, the largest ever from Japan, as outlined recently in these pages.

Two years ago, with just six days to go to the Dubai World Cup, the event was cancelled along with all major sporting events as the Covid pandemic took its toll. The strict mask rules that remain in place locally are a reminder of those grim times, and the fact that the coronavirus is still a threat, but the world is pushing on with both business and pleasure, and in Dubai this week the racing world is able to gather once more to indulge in a spot of both.