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Dubai World Cup night History
Created by Sheikh Mohammed in 1996, the Dubai World Cup is run over 2000m on the Tapeta surface at Meydan racecourse. The meeting was previously run at Nad Al Sheba but was moved to the new track in 2010.
There are two courses at Meydan with the smaller, inner circuit on the artificial Tapeta and the outer, the turf version which includes a straight course for the sprint races.
You can check out all the form for the Dubai World Cup meeting here.
The story of the World Cup began with the superb American horse Cigar who was an icon of racing back in the mid-90s. Connections were coaxed to the UAE and he did the job under Jerry Bailey who would go onto become the most successful rider in DWC history with four wins.
Because the race was run on the dirt at Nad Al Sheba, it was a race dominated by US horses until it moved to Meydan. Kentucky Derby winner Silver Charm for Gary Stevens and Captain Steve for Bailey again were early winners.
Also Pleasantly Perfect, Roses In May, Invasor, Well Armed and another top horse Curlin who had previously run in a great Kentucky Derby (Street Sense and Hard Spun ahead) were other top Americans.
But it was the Godolphin organisation who have held the race firmly as a major seasonal goal for obvious reasons. This came after Almutawakel won for Sheikh Hamdan in 1999, the royal blue scored their first winner with the horse who Sheikh Mohammed regarded as the best he has had.
Dubai Millennium began from a wide draw, went straight to front for Frankie Dettori, kept running along and bolted in in an amazingly fast time. Sadly he died too soon. They won subsequently with Street Cry, Moon Ballad, Electrocutionist and most recently with Monterosso.
There has been a change in the style of winners since the change to the different artificial surface Tapeta. You’ve had Brazilian/French winner Gloria De Campeao, the Japanese Victoire Pisa, British bred Monterosso (out of the Coolmore Classic winner Porto Roca) and then last year was as cosmopolitan as you can get.
Former Kentucky Derby Animal Kingdom was foaled and raced in the US, trained by a British ex-pat in Graham Motion, ridden by a young jockey from the Dominican Republic (Joel Rosario) and part owned by the Australian breeding group Arrowfield Stud.
Australia have not had that much involvement in the DWC. Danewin ran in the very first one in 1996 and Juggler the year after, coming 6th.
It was a few years on before So You Think, under the care of Aidan O’Brien, ran fourth. And if you want to include Animal Kingdom, that has been the sum total of our representation.
We’ve also had Elvstroem win the Dubai Duty Free, leading all the way in 2005 for Tony Vasil and Nash Rawiller while Ortensia did the opposite, coming from last to take the Al Quoz Sprint in 2012 for Paul Messara and Craig Williams.
