Dubai World Cup

Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), a strong second when last seen in the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 26, will begin his road to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in Saturday's GIII Salvator Mile S. on Monmouth Park's inaugural GI TVG.com Haskell S. preview day. He'll face six rivals with Hall of Famer Mike Smith booked to ride. The half-brother to champion Mitole (Eskendereya) returns to the Jersey Shore for the first time since being disqualified from first and placed seventh for interference in a roughly run edition of last year's...

Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Country Grammer (Tonalist), both multiple Grade I winners co-owned by WinStar Farm, are enjoying a freshening at WinStar's training and rehabilitation facility in Versailles, Ky. before they return to the racetrack for their summer campaigns. Rivals in their last start in the G1 Dubai World Cup, the duo now shares the same daily routine on the farm. After training at 6:30 every morning, they keep company together as they enjoy the grass and sunshine in side-by-side round pens. "Life Is Good and Country Grammer...

Last term's G1 Dubai World Cup hero Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper--Music Note, by A.P. Indy) has been retired to Jonabell Farm, where he will stand the 2023 breeding season, Godolphin announced Thursday. A fee will be announced at a later date. "The decision has been made to retire Mystic Guide due to a soft tissue injury," Dan Pride, COO of Godolphin in America, said. "The timing unfortunately rules out his major summer and fall targets and as a result he will take up stud duties at Jonabell Farm. He proved himself...

There was much cause for Irish celebration at Meydan on Saturday night when A Case Of You (Ire) (Hot Streak {Ire}) and Ronan Whelan shot to glory in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint for Ado McGuinness. But a victory that meant just as much for one Irish jockey was that of Switzerland (Speightstown) in the other major sprint on the card, the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, which provided Tadhg O'Shea with his first Group 1 winner at the age of 40. O'Shea has not, however, been devoid of success throughout...

Triple Crown season might be heating up but the well-bred handicap divisions are keen on having a say in how the big stage shapes up. Here's who's been shouting the loudest this week. Stonestreet Gold Again a Rising Star... The famous silks have done it once more, this time with Marsalis (Curlin) adding another 'TDN Rising Star' accolade to GISW Hot Dixie Chick's already impressive tally as a broodmare. Full-brother and New York's Leading Second Crop sire Union Jackson also claimed Rising Stardom in his racing days; while half-sister Pauline's...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- On paper, it was horseracing's version of the 'Dream Team.' Trainer Bob Baffert, a three-time winner of the G1 Dubai World Cup, and the charismatic Frankie Dettori, still riding at the peak of his powers into his early 50s, also with three World Cup trophies to his name. Each of those victories was achieved as the retained rider for Godolphin and Saeed bin Suroor, but the Italian maestro hadn't hoisted the hardware since Electrocutionist (Red Ransom) took the 2006 renewal at old Nad Al Sheba...

First things first: let's give their chance to the guys off the bench. Okay, so there are going to be plenty of eyeballs rolled now that three of Bob Baffert's four Derby migrants are joining a former assistant, on the same circuit, with a total of 38 starters to his name this year—especially as it was the handling of another Baffert medication violation that reportedly caused the scuffle between this same gentleman and a fellow trainer at Clocker's Corner one morning last April. (Both were fined $500.) The wiseguys will...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- In a Thursday morning presser at Meydan Racecourse, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher suggested that a good deal of the allure of running in a race like the G1 Dubai World Cup is that it brings together a smorgasbord of horses from a variety of jurisdictions with patriotic pride at play. "I think part of it is the international competition aspect of it," he offered. "I said this when Coal Front (Stay Thirsty) won the [G2 Godolphin] Mile [in 2019], it almost takes on...

Ever-popular retired Hall of Fame jockey and current television analyst for Fox Sports and the New York Racing Association Gary Stevens joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Tuesday afternoon for an expansive discussion on an array of racing topics and issues. Sitting down with Joe Bianca and Bill Finley as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Stevens gave a huge personal endorsement to star 3-year-old filly Secret Oath (Arrogate) as she prepares to take on males, analyzed the shuffling of the California jockey colony, talked about his...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- With the exception of host Sheikh Mohammed, who has won the G1 Dubai World Cup no fewer than nine times, and the late Sheikh Hamdan (two), no other owner has managed to post more than one victory in the event, now worth $12 million. That could all change in the space of a little more than two minutes Saturday afternoon when Kenny Troutt's WinStar Farm sends out a pair of runners consisting of different partnerships. On a rating of 124, 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is...

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...

Although he beat just three home in the G1 Saudi Cup a fortnight ago, trainer Saeed bin Suroor said Real World (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) could still stay on the dirt for the G1 Dubai World Cup on Mar. 26. Godolphin's 5-year-old came alive in Britain last summer, winning the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot followed by three straight black-type races culminating in the G2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein in October, and he kicked off his campaign with victory in the G2 Zabeel Mile at Meydan on Jan. 28. Real...