Meydan

A record crowd of more than 65,000 attended Saturday's Dubai World Cup night card at Meydan in Dubai. It was the 29th edition of the nine-race spectacle, which featured $30.5 million in purses. The evening's crown jewel, the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup, was captured by Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) for trainer Brad Cox and owner Wathnan Racing. Next year's edition will mark the 30th edition of the Dubai World Cup and it will be held on Saturday, March 28. "This year's Dubai World Cup meeting was nothing short...

World Pool set a new record turnover mark with almost half a billion Hong Kong dollars bet across 13 races in Australia and Dubai on April 5, the organisation announced on Tuesday. The globally commingled pools powered by the Hong Kong Jockey Club hit HK$472.4m (£47.6m/A$100.5m) across six races on Randwick's Doncaster Mile Day card--the first day of The Championships--and seven races from Meydan on Dubai World Cup Day. The total exceeded last year's three-meeting composite World Pool card, which included races from Australia and the UK on King Charles...

Japanese raider Soul Rush (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}) stunned the Meydan crowds as he denied Hong Kong champion Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the shadows of the post to double his Group 1 tally in the $5 million Dubai Turf sponsored by DP World. The race is a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile in November. Romantic Warrior, seeking an 11th top-level win of his illustrious career, raced in a share of second in the early stages as Meisho Tabaru (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}) and Yutaka...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- In the history of the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen dating back to 1996, no 3-year-old had ever succeeded in defeating their elders in the 1200-meter dash. Only two Northern Hemisphere-bred sophomores had so much as tried. That all changed in the space of 71 seconds and some change under the Saturday night lights at Meydan, as Dark Saffron (Flameaway) busted away from the outside stall and made every yard a winning one, holding off Nakatomi (Firing Line) and a desperately unlucky defending champion Tuz (Oxbow)...

Raging Torrent (Maximus Mischief) made it back-to-back triumphs for trainer Doug O'Neill in the $1 million G2 Godolphin Mile sponsored by Emaar, producing an explosive performance from the front under Frankie Dettori to follow up his GI Malibu Stakes success at Santa Anita on Boxing Day. Closely attended by Mufasa (Chi) (Practical Joke) for much of the contest, Raging Torrent was soon in control once that rival cried enough inside the final two furlongs, powering clear thereafter to win by three and a half lengths in a time of 1:36.69....

World Pool truly lives up to its name on Saturday, featuring 13 races at Meydan for Dubai World Cup Day and at Randwick for the first round of The Championships. Seven races from Dubai will be globally commingled, including all five Group 1contests, meaning that punters from more than 28 jurisdictions will be able to bet with World Pool. The action from Meydan follows Doncaster Mile Day in Sydney, with World Pool returning for a second year on day one of The Championships, which features four Group 1 races. World...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Better known for breeding and selling top racehorses, Carrie and Craig Brogden touched down in Dubai late Wednesday and were trackside at Meydan on Thursday morning to watch their G2 Godolphin Mile hopeful Steal Sunshine (Constitution) turn in some light work over the track. It isn't the first time that the high-class Machmer Hall operation has been represented on foreign soil. The late Tepin (Bernstein) was bred by and came through the consignment before beating the boys on three occasions, including the 2015 GI Breeders'...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- There's that age-old saying in the Thoroughbred business that a good horse can come from anywhere. Perhaps no equine athlete in training anywhere in the world embodies that axiom more than Tuz (Oxbow). At the ripe old age of eight, the burly dark bay gelding--he stands 16.3hh--is in career form, arguably even better than when he won the 2024 G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, and that's really saying something, as he kicked away from his rivals late on that occasion to dominate by a towering 6...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Though it was north of 70 degrees Farenheit (that's about 22 degrees on the Celsius scale for those of you who do things that way), there was still a bit of a chill in the air when the first of the horses bound for Saturday's Dubai World Cup meeting here at Meydan Racecourse took to the oval. As per usual, Team Japan are the earliest of the early risers and one of the most enjoyable aspects of trackwork, from this reporter's perspective, is the way...

The $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup will be run an hour later than originally planned at Meydan on Saturday, after the Dubai Racing Club took the decision on Tuesday to delay the start time for all nine races on the glittering card due to an unforeseen weather forecast. The gates at Meydan will now open at 2.30pm (local time), with the first race--the G1 Dubai Kahayla Classic for Purebred Arabians--set for 4.35pm (local time). The main event, the Dubai World Cup, will conclude the card at 9.30pm (local time). Sheikh...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Having fought her way back into the saddle from a freak accident nearly two years ago that nearly spelled the end of her career, jockey Chantal Sutherland is warmly embracing the opportunity to partner with her old mate Super Chow (Lord Nelson), a rough chance in a white-hot renewal of the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen this weekend. Sutherland, 49, wintered in Dubai this year, working with trainer Bhupat Seemar and his team at Zabeel Stables. "It's been amazing. Dubai is such a beautiful place," Sutherland...

When he has the right horse to do so, California-based conditioner Doug O'Neill isn't the smallest bit hesitant to showcase them on the foreign stage. On Apr. 5, the 56-year-old will send out Grade I winner Raging Torrent (Maximus Mischief) in an attempt to win the G2 Godolphin Mile for the third time in his career and the second time in succession. "It's a real honor to have a horse that's classy enough to travel to meetings like this," said O'Neill, a two-time winner of the GI Kentucky Derby whose...