DUBAI: A rough estimate suggests that we’ll see around 34 Group or Grade 1 winners compete for $30.5 million across the nine races at the Dubai World Cup meeting on Saturday, March 26. Here’s a few who you might want to watch out for at Meydan.
1. Life Is Good (Dubai World Cup)
He’s just really … good. So good, he’s only been beaten once, in fact, and that came on his first start for trainer Todd Pletcher and after a break. The four-year-old is the Dubai World Cup favorite and rightly so. He beat the best horse in the world, Knicks Go, last time and is likely to blaze a trail from the front. The only question? He’s yet to run the 2,000 meters of the Dubai World Cup distance.
2. Hot Rod Charlie (Dubai World Cup)
Lying in wait for Life Is Good is Hot Rod Charlie. An unlucky horse — he was once disqualified for getting in the way of a rival — he warmed up for this race with smooth success over 1,900 meters in the G2 Maktoum Challenge Round 2, so we know he likes the track. He’s also small and “bug-eyed,” in the words of one of his owners. There’s a lot to like about “Chuck.”
3. Aero Trem (Dubai World Cup)
This is a cool horse. Bred in Brazil and trained for much of his life in Uruguay, Aero Trem overcame a life-threatening illness to win one of the biggest races in South America; the G1 Gran Premio Latinoamericano in October. Then he came to Dubai, trained here, before hopping over to Saudi and running an excellent fifth in the Saudi Cup. He might not be able to win, but he will be flying the flag high for his racing-mad nation.
4. Yibir (Sheema Classic)
Yibir is talented. He proved that when winning the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf. He’s also tricky, so much so that trainer Charlie Appleby has kept him at home in Newmarket until this week, when he belatedly joined his Dubai team. If things don’t go his way in the $6 million race, he might sulk. If they do go his way, he might well win.
5. Man Of Promise (Al-Quoz Sprint)
Rarely has a horse been as impressive in a 1,200-meter sprint as Man Of Promise in the G3 Nad Al-Sheba Turf Sprint on Super Saturday, when he took apart a G1-class field by four-and-three-quarter lengths. He now has to prove he can do it again in an actual Group 1, but if he can then the others should be worried.
6. Saffron Beach (Dubai Turf)
Trained in the UK by Australian Jane Chapple-Hyam, Saffron Beach improved throughout her three-year-old career and wound up with a G1 success. She’s in an extremely good race, but it would be unwise to underestimate either her, or her travel-loving trainer.
7. Drain The Clock (Golden Shaheen)
Trained by Barbados-born, US-based, Saffie Joseph Jnr., Drain The Clock is just the sort of horse to do well in this race. He’s a Grade 1 winner and warmed up for this race with a second place at Gulfstream Park in Florida last month.
8. Manobo (Gold Cup)
Five from five in his career so far, Manobo is very exciting. He could start off an excellent night for Charlie Appleby by winning the night’s longest race, the 3,200-meter Gold Cup, which his trainer won in 2019 with Cross Counter.
9. Secret Ambition (Godolphin Mile)
Nine-year-old Secret Ambition will be making the 45th start of his remarkable career when he lines up in the Godolphin Mile, a race he won 12 months ago. Since then, he’s run only twice, being beaten narrowly in Maktoum Challenge Round 1 in January and then finishing a good seventh, after setting the pace, in the Saudi Cup. This guy loves a fight and if he was quick enough to lead in Riyadh, then he’s quick enough to lead — and win — here. Write him off at your peril.
10. RB Rich Lyke Me (Kahayla Classic)
RB Rich Lyke Me is the first Arabian trained by Dubai/Bahrain-based Fawzi Nass, who has turned out to be pretty good at it. The grey has won both of his starts in Dubai and was a strong pacesetting third in the Obaiya Arabian Classic in Saudi. Back on home dirt, he has a serious chance of landing the Arabians’ World Cup.