Dubai

With a victory in Saturday's $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup--a fait accompli in the eyes of many--reigning Japanese Horse of the Year and GI Breeders' Cup Classic hero Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) would leap-frog Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) as the world's richest racehorse with over $36 million in career earnings, accomplished in the space of just 15 races. Heady stuff. Unfathomable stuff, really. And to think that the 5-year-old is out of a mare that fetched just $8,000 as a yearling, well, you just...

Fresh from another dominant display at the Cheltenham Festival, champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins provides the lowdown on leading Dubai Sheema Classic hope Ethical Diamond and more Not content with tightening his grip on the National Hunt sphere following another dominant display at the Cheltenham Festival, Willie Mullins will be taking aim at the world's best racehorse Calandagan in Saturday's Dubai Sheema Classic with his Breeders' Cup hero Ethical Diamond - and the bad news for his contemporaries on the Flat is that the champion jumps trainer has revealed that...

The Aga Khan Studs' Calandagan (Gleneagles) has been cleared to travel to the UAE and contest the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan next week. Rated the Longines World's Best Racehorse of 2025, the gelding won the G1 Japan Cup, among other triumphs closer to home last term. The familiar green and red silks will also be carried by Rayevka (Blue Point), who is already based in Dubai ahead of the G1 Al Quoz Sprint. Nemone Routh, racing manager for the family, said, "We've been very happy with Calandagan. "This...

Reigning Japanese Horse of the Year Forever Young (Real Steel) is one of nine horses remaining for the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan on March 28. Several horses originally pointing toward the meeting have opted to skip it for different targets as the conflict in Iran has escalated. Yoshito Yahagi's star is joined by 2025 winner Hit Show (Candy Ride), Grade II winner Magnitude (Not This Time), and fellow top level winners Walk Of Stars (Dubawi) and Imperial Emperor (Dubawi). For the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, Calandagan (Gleneagles)...

Group winner Luxor Café (American Pharoah) and two compatriots landed at Japan's Kansai International Airport on St Patrick's Day, Tospo Keiba reported on Tuesday. Originally slated to run in the G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan on March 28, the full-brother to dual G1 February Stakes hero Café Pharoah will instead look to targets closer to home, as the Iranian conflict continues. One of three horses to return to the Land of the Rising Sun on Tuesday morning, he was joined by Shin Forever (Complexity) and G2 UAE Derby hope...

Iranian attacks continued on Friday in Dubai, with nearby activity forcing officials at Meydan Racecourse to put a temporary hold on racing during the final meeting of the Dubai Racing Carnival. The day's opening event, a Group 3 contest on the turf for the Purebred Arabians, went off as scheduled at 5:30 p.m. local time and the horses were on their way through the tunnel that connects the pre-parade ring/saddling enclosure for the second race, which was scheduled to jump at 6:05 p.m. local time. As horses continued to filter...

After another big week of Kentucky Derby preps and with the Dubai World Cup on the horizon, there was plenty to unpack in this week's TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland. The trio of Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss, and T.D. Thornton broke down the weekend's biggest performances. Cadman made sure to school her American colleagues on the correct pronunciation of The Puma (Essential Quality), the winner of the GIII Tampa Bay Derby. "He is named for Gustavo Delgado Sr., because apparently that's what they call him and I can kind...

Despite the current conflict in neighboring countries, G2 1351 Turf Sprint winner Reef Runner has been training in Dubai to make his next start on Dubai World Cup day. Owner Alex Lieblong joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to talk about his decision to soon be joining his stable star in Dubai.

Connections of some of the leading European-trained Dubai World Cup entries are said to be taking a watching brief on the conflict in the Middle East before firming up running plans for the fixture that boasts over $30 million in prize-money on Saturday, March 28. On Wednesday, it was confirmed that Shadai Race Horse Company's Masquerade Ball and Jantar Mantar would not travel from Japan to Meydan for their intended starts in the Dubai Sheema Classic and Dubai Turf. However, leading Irish trainer Joseph O'Brien and the Aga Khan Stud's...

Trainer David Fawkes issued an upbeat report on Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's Reef Runner (The Big Beast) as he continues his preparations for the G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Racecourse on Mar. 28. "He's doing excellent," Fawkes said. "Obviously I've got to do a lot by video or telephone, but watching him train, he loves it there and he's doing great." The 5-year-old is taking everything in his stride according to Fawkes in spite of the intermittent military activity taking place around him at the sprawling facility, which is...

As part of his official duties, Keeneland's Director of Sales Operations Dean Roethemeier was attending the races Saturday at Meydan in Dubai at the same time that drone and missile attacks launched by Iran were hitting nearby. While he said he never felt unsafe, he noted that his biggest worry was, with the Dubai International Airport having been shuttered, how he was going to make it back home? But after a long, complicated journey, he had made it to Amsterdam on Tuesday and was expecting to land at the Cincinnati...

While the war raging in the Middle East has caused uncertainty and danger throughout the region, it appears that most among the group of U.S.-based horses that had been planning on running on the Mar. 28 GI Dubai World Cup card will make the trip to the United Arab Emirates and continue to prepare for one of the world's richest days of racing. "We're making plans and arrangements as if the world were normal," said David Fiske, the racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, which owns Dubai World Cup hopeful Magnitude...