Dubai World Cup

Two-time Grade I winner Defunded (Dialed In) will point towards the G1 Saudi Cup for new connections after having been privately purchased. The news, announced Saturday evening via a release, notes that the colt was bought for an undisclosed sum by Dr. Muhaideb Abdullah Almuhaideb's HDB Racing Stable, a new Saudi Arabian owner, and arrived in Saudi Arabia Dec. 18. "He is an exceptional horse and has the profile, hopefully, to be a great asset to Riyadh racing and to do well in the Saudi Cup," said Khalid Mishref. In...

Friday's G1 Tokyo Daishoten marked a first and much-anticipated battle between reigning G1 Dubai World Cup hero Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) and the upstart 3-year-old Mick Fire (Jpn) (Sinister Minister), perfect in his seven starts and winner of the unofficial Japan Dirt Triple Crown this past season. The showdown never really materialized, however, as the latter never reached contention after playing up in the stalls, and the odds-on Ushba Tesoro ran down his commonly owner front-runner Wilson Tesoro (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) to successfully defend his title in the...

While the final of the roughly two dozen Group 1 races on the Japan Racing Association was scheduled for Thursday, the Tokyo Daishoten--the only recognized international Group 1 event and pattern race of any variety on the National Association of Racing circuit--takes place Friday afternoon at Ohi Racecourse in the Japanese capital. Under normal circumstances, the discussion of the 2000-metre dirt affair would begin and end with Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), whose victory here 12 months ago catapulted him to future success on the world stage in the G1...

A day after his victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, trainer Rick Dutrow was already mapping out a plan to take White Abarrio (Race Day) to the Feb. 24 G1 Saudi Cup. Dutrow said he hopes to leave the 4-year-old at Santa Anita for a while and probably will take him to Saudi Arabia to be prepared for the race. "I would be comfortable running him in the Saudi Cup in his next start," Dutrow said. "I'm going to be pushing for it. I think that's where this horse...

G1 Dubai World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), prepping for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, breezed four furlongs in a hand-timed :49 2/5 Sunday at Santa Anita. The Takagi Noboru trainee left the quarantine barn at 6:15 a.m., walking for 15 minutes until the track opened and then proceeded to the main track. Allowed to ease into his work at the half-mile pole and around the far turn, he did not begin lengthening stride and quickening until turning for home, impressing onlookers down the lane and into a...

Making his first start since a history-making success in the G1 Dubai World Cup just over six months ago, Kenji Ryotokuji Holdings' Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) prepped for a possible appearance in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Nov. 4 with a comfortable victory in Wednesday's Listed Nippon TV Hai at Funabashi Race Track near Tokyo. Yuga Kawada was at the controls when the 6-year-old rallied from last to become Japan's first World Cup winner on dirt, but settled the blinkered bay much closer to the pace...

Kenji Ryotokuji's Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), last seen recording a powerful victory over an international field in the G1 Dubai World Cup in late March, returns to the races in Wednesday's $456,960 Listed Nippon TV Hai at Funabashi Racecourse about 25 minutes east of Central Tokyo. The 1800-meter test will serve as his lone prep for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita in a little more than five weeks' time. The 6-year-old, bought for just under $220,000 as a foal at the 2017 JRHA Select Sale, made...

2022 G1 Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer (Tonalist) has been retired at the age of six. He will stand the 2024 season at WinStar Farm for an introductory fee of $10,000 LFSN. Campaigned by Commonwealth, WinStar Farm, and Zedan Racing, the Bob Baffert-trained colt started three times this year, finishing second for the second year in a row in the G1 Saudi Cup but failing to hit the board in both his Dubai World Cup defense and the GII Hollywood Gold Cup S. May 29. Bought for just $110,000...

The tracks of the Emirates Racing Association (ERA) will stage a total of 61 meetings in 2023-2024 after the fixture list was given the stamp of approval by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Presidential Court and Chairman of the ERA. The racing season in the Emirates begins Oct. 28 at Al Ain Racecourse and continues the following day at Sharjah Longines Racecourse. Jebel Ali Racecourse will open its doors for the first time on Nov. 4, and racing at...

Ever since she was a young girl, Chelsie Raabe had dreamed of reaching the pinnacle moment in her career as an equestrian, where she envisioned one day standing atop the Olympic podium or making the victorious walk out following a clear cross-country round at the Land Rover Three-Day event. But it wasn't until the evening of March 25 at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, as she looked up at a bustling grandstand that echoed with the crescendo of excited fans awaiting the start of the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen on...

The Dubai Racing Club (DRC) on Sunday announced a new structure for the 2023-24 racing season at Meydan, renaming the entire event from December through March as the Dubai Racing Carnival and boosting purses by AED11 million, a 27% increase over last season. The season will offer three feature race nights starting in December (AED4.7 million), then January (AED10 million), and Super Saturday in March (AED 10million), which brings the total purses for the three meetings to AED24.7 million. The minimum purse for non-stakes races is AED165,000, which is back...

It felt like a literal solstice, a moment marking our transition to a different phase in the alignment of the Thoroughbred firmament. Because the meteoric performance of Equinox (Jpn) in Dubai on Saturday night, as highlight of another momentous evening for Japan, left rival breeders everywhere speechless. Perhaps, they wondered next morning, this was what was meant by a Sunday silence. There are so many lessons in Japan's accession as a dominant influence on the 21st Century Thoroughbred, a trend that even the most obtuse and parochial of us cannot...