horse racing in Dubai

If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, Saturday would have been the 25th renewal of the Dubai World Cup. The iconic 2000-metre dirt race (and for five renewals synthetic) has held sway as the world's richest race for 22 of its 24 renewals, first at Nad Al Sheba and later Meydan, and it has produced some sterling results. The TDN's Tom Frary has paid homage to Dubai Millennium (GB) on the 20th anniversary of his victory, and so with that notable performance aside we look back on some of the other...

There was a surprise result in Super Saturday's opening group race, the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal over six furlongs, when the Satish Seemar-trained Wafy (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) came from way off the pace to deny stablemate and fellow longshot Leading Spirit (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}). The Tadhg O'Shea-ridden winner looked a forlorn hope early in the straight but the hectic gallop set by the pacesetters early on began to take its toll as the closers emerged from the pack late in the race. Leading Spirit looked the likely winner...

Meydan's 'Super Saturday' card on Mar. 7 is set to be staged against the backdrop of an empty grandstand, with the Emirates Racing Authority taking precautionary measures against the coronavirus outbreak. Nonetheless, race fans and pundits will have the chance to take in from afar performances from some key protagonists aiming toward the Dubai World Cup card on Mar. 28 during the evening's seven tailored prep races. The G1 Jebel Hatta, one of two Group 1s on the card, looks to be at the mercy of Godolphin but, with the...

Meydan's Super Saturday card on Mar. 7 will be staged without spectators, with the Emirates Racing Authority taking preventative action in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Thursday's Al Ain meeting was also held without spectators, and so will Friday's meeting at Jebel Ali and Sunday's meeting at Abu Dhabi. Super Saturday stages seven races intended as preps for the Dubai World Cup card on Mar. 28. Horse connections, sponsors and media will be the only persons permitted to attend.

Trainer Doug O'Neill can surely count his maiden voyage to Dubai as a successful one, with two winners-both of stakes-and 13 runners in the money from 22 starts through Thursday. And there is a chance that Parsimony (Dominus) could lead him to bigger and better things after an eye-catching victory in Thursday's Listed Curlin S. Parsimony is apparently a horse that took his accomplished trainer some time to unravel; not only did it take the grey 18 starts to break his maiden, but within his first year on the track...

The Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Dubai Racing Club have partnered to offer World Pool betting for Meydan's Mar. 7 Super Saturday card and Mar. 28 Dubai World Cup meeting. Overseas pari-mutuel wagers placed through partners from Australia, Canada, Europe, Singapore and the U.S. will be commingled into Hong Kong's pools directly or via Premier Gateway International (PGI) during the two Dubai meetings. This will provide maximum liquidity and stronger opportunities for customers. Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Hong Kong Jockey Club's chief executive officer, said, "The commingling development in Hong...

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed's Down On Da Bayou (Super Saver) had to play second fiddle to Godolphin fillies in the Listed UAE 1000 Guineas on Jan. 23 and the trial three weeks prior to that, but fortunes were reversed and son prevailed over father in the G3 UAE Oaks at Meydan on Thursday evening, with Down On Da Bayou strolling home by 18 1/2 lengths over Dubai Love (GB) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) while stepping up to 1900 metres for the first time. Breaking well from the extreme outside gate...

Capezzano (Bernardini) was a revelation at last year's carnival when winning three straight including the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3 by 9 1/2 lengths over Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}), but the 6-year-old gelding had been off since coming up lame after a last-place finish in the G1 Dubai World Cup. The dark bay had never won first-up but he put that stat firmly behind him with a seven-length victory in stakes record time in Thursday's G3 Firebreak S. going a mile on the dirt. Bouncing away from gate five,...

Magic Lily (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) continued to make up for lost time when backing up her victory in the Jan. 16 G2 Cape Verdi with a one-length score in Thursday's G2 Balanchine S. at Meydan. An eight-length debut winner at two and third in the G1 Fillies' Mile, Magic Lily had high hopes riding on her shoulders heading into her 3-year-old campaign in 2018 but an injury kept her on the shelf for two years. Back in action last October, Magic Lily was second in listed company in France...

Two-time GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill made the ground-breaking move of sending a string of around a dozen horses to train at Meydan and tackle the three-month Dubai World Cup Carnival this season, and the Southern California-based conditioner got off the mark in the desert on Thursday when Fore Left (Twirling Candy) went gate to wire in the one-mile G3 UAE 2000 Guineas. Fore Left carries the colours of Paul Reddam, who also owned both of O'Neill's Derby winners, I'll Have Another (Flower Alley) and Nyquist (Uncle Mo). Fastest...

Gladiator King has proven a shrewd purchase by Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, the 4-year-old son of Curlin now two-for-two in Dubai, having added victory in Thursday's G3 Al Shindagha Sprint to his score in the G3 Dubawi S. on opening night of the carnival on Jan. 2. Gladiator King was previously trained by Jaime Mejia in the U.S., and he won a key U.S. 3-year-old sprinting contest, the GIII Hutcheson S., last winter before finishing a head second in the GIII Chick Lang S. on the Preakness undercard....

The G2 Al Rashidiya S. at Meydan on Thursday came down to a pair of Godolphin Group 1 winners in the final furlong, and it was the returning G1 St James's Palace S. winner Barney Roy (GB) (Excelebration {Ire}) who collared and passed the defending race winner and last year's G1 Jebel Hatta S. winner Dream Castle (GB) (Frankel {GB}) inside the final eighth to score by two lengths, leading home a Godolphin top four finish. Barney Roy was making his fourth start back from a failed stud career due...