Saturday sees the fourteenth running of the $6m Dubai World Cup and its five supporting Group races which feature runners from all over the globe.
In its inaugural winner, the great American champion Cigar, the Dubai World Cup had the best possible launch. This was followed up a year later by the globetrotting Singspiel, now a stalwart of the Darley stallion ranks and the only winner to have sired a winner of the great race, his son Moon Ballad having landed the spoils in 2003. Such great as Dubai Millennium, whose Classic-wining son Dubawi has his first runners this year, and Street Cry have also triumphed at Nad Al Sheba, while Horse of the Year Curlin was the fitting victor of last year’s prize.
This year’s Dubai World Cup meeting will be the last to be run at Nad Al Sheba; in 2010 the action will transfer to the new Meydan racecourse which is currently under construction. The valuable supporting races boast a wealth of equine talent with the return of Godolphin’s Creachadoir, a Group One-winning son of King's Best, a much anticipated bonus. The dual Guineas runner-up suffered a fracture after winning last year’s G1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury and, after a full recovery, is set to line up against one of Australia’s finest, the four-time Group One winner Tuesday Joy. The five-year-old daughter of Carnegie hails from an illustrious family, being a daughter of Queensland Oaks winner Joie Denise, herself a daughter of the multiple Group One winner Denise’s Joy. Tuesday Joy’s half-sister Sunday Joy won the AJC Australian Oaks and she is now the dam of one of the leading fancies for the Golden Slipper and winner of Saturday’s G2 Slipper Trial. Cape Cross's G3 Darley Stakes winner Charlie Fansbarns is also in the 16-strong field which includes recent Zabeel Mile winner Archipenko and last year’s winner Jay Peg.
Former Dubai World Cup winners Singspiel and Street Cry both have runners at the meeting. Eastern Anthem, a five-year-old son of Singspiel out of dual Classic winner Kazzia, heads to the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic after winning his last two starts at Nad Al Sheba. Street Cry, already sire of eight Group One winners, including Kentucky Derby hero Street Sense, is represented by two of his American-bred offspring, the UAE 2000 Guineas winner Desert Party, who bids for his second Dubaian Classic in the UAE Derby, and Summer Doldrums, who will line up for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum in the Godolphin Mile. Among Desert Party’s rivals for glory are King’s Best three-year-old I Am The Best, winner of the Etisalat Weyak Plate on 26 December who was third in the Listed Al Bastakiya-Jazil on Super Thursday.
UAE Oaks winner Devotee has continued the excellent run of her sire Elusive Quality, who has the American-bred Change Alley and Australian-bred Lucky Quality going head-to-head in the G2 Golden Shaheen. The paternal half-brothers will also face a challenge from Balthazaar’s Gift, a Group Three-winning son of Darley Japan stallion Xaar.
