Dubai World Cup

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...

Saturday's G1 Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan saw World Pool's globally commingled turnover hit HK$315,177,810 (approx. $40.1m) across the eight-race card, a rise of $33.6 million (approx. $4.2m) over 2022. The $12 million feature, won by Japanese raider Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), drew the highest handle of the night, with pari-mutuel organisations from over 20 countries betting HK$54,521,829 (approx. $6.9m) on the race. It became World Pool's highest turnover race of 2023 so far, surpassing the HK$48.4m (approx. $6.1m) wagered on the G1 Saudi Cup in February. The...

A World Cup meeting needs world-class runners plus a global spread of results. This much and more was delivered by the 27th Dubai World Cup and supporting races at Meydan on Saturday. With 26 runners on the night, it was always a given that Japan would feature prominently and, in an exhibition of excellence that we are now becoming accustomed to, they led all comers, just as they had in Riyadh last month. The performance of Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) alone was pretty dramatic, coming from tailed off to...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- The pyrotechnics display following the conclusion of Saturday's Dubai World Cup program nearly matched those on the racetrack about 30 minutes earlier when Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) raced past a weakening Algiers (Ire) (Shamardal) in the final furlong to give Japan a first victory in a dirt renewal of the G1 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline. Not only was it the third victory on the night for the nation who took home five trophies 12 months ago, but it also gave Japan...

Forty broadcasters from all corners of the globe will provide live coverage of Saturday's $30.5-million G1 Dubai World Cup from Meydan Racecourse. In all, nine races will be contested, headlined by the $12-million Dubai World Cup, Sponsored by Emirates Airline. Dubai Racing Club's Racecourse Media Group (RMG), and RMG's agency HBA Media, have secured some of the biggest names in sports broadcasting to televise and live stream the day's events, include Fox Sports in the U.S., ESPN/Star+ in South America, SuperSport in Africa, Viaplay in Europe, Dubai Media and BeIN...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- WinStar Farm, Commonwealth Thoroughbreds and Zedan Racing LLC's Country Grammer (Tonalist) was assigned gate 14 in a field of 15 when he goes out in defense of his title in Saturday's G1 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline at Meydan Racecourse, with the draw held at the Armani Hotel located in the towering Burj Khalifa in Central Dubai. The 6-year-old, the final World Cup ride for jockey Frankie Dettori, won the GII San Antonio S. in dominating fashion in late December at Santa Anita...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Bloodstock agents are equal parts pedigree analysts, money managers and equine recruiters for those audacious (crazy?) enough to dabble in Thoroughbred ownership. Few have followed the trajectory of the career of Country Grammer (Tonalist) more closely than the well-respected Peter Bradley, who went to work on behalf of the late Paul Pompa, Jr. at the 2019 OBS April Sale. It was Bradley's name on the docket when the hammer fell in the first 20 minutes of the final day of the auction, having parted with...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Brooke Hubbard remembers the 2018 Keeneland September Sale almost as if it happened yesterday. A little past the midway point of the sixth day of bidding in Lexington, hip 1683--a colt from the first crop of Tonalist and offered by Dermot and Emma Quinn's Garrencasey Sales--walked into the back ring and immediately caught Hubbard's attention. A few minutes and $60,000 later, the May 11 foal was hers. "I bid twice and I was looking around thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, I must have missed something that...

Jet Set Racing Stable's Chilean Group 1 winner Super Corinto (Arg) (Super Saver), originally among a bulky field entered for the G2 Godolphin Mile at Meydan Mar. 25, will instead run in the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup, it was announced Friday. Trained by Amador Sanchez, the Southern Hemisphere 4-year-old colt began his career at Monterrico Racetrack in Peru, winning three of his four starts, before finishing second to O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman) in the G1 Longines Gran Premio Latinoamericano at Hipodromo Chile last Apr. 2. A 1 1/4-length winner of...

WinStar Farm, Commonwealth Thoroughbreds and Zedan Racing's defending G1 Dubai World Cup champion Country Grammer (Tonalist) tops a dozen North American entries for the Dubai World Cup program at Meydan Racecourse Saturday, Mar. 25. The prospective fields were revealed overnight by the Dubai Racing Club. The 6-year-old is one of 13 in the field for the $12-million centerpiece of the meeting, including no fewer than eight runners from Japan topped by Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), who registered a half-length defeat of Country Grammer in the G1 Saudi Cup last...