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Santa Anita, Derby Dubai World Cup Wood Memorial Day Dubai World Cup Works Dubai World Cup entries |
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 The trophies for the day with the Dubai World Cup the tallest in the middle. |
The 29th renewal of the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) sponsored by Emirates Airline will be conducted at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on Saturday, and in a change from past years, is being run a week later than its traditional late March date in order to avoid Ramadan which ended on March 30. On Wednesday evening at the IMAX Gallery in the Meydan grandstand, the post positions were drawn for the main event, which features some of the best older horses in the world going 2000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles), two turns of the 1 1/8 mile dirt track. Due to extreme heat forecasted all week, with daytime highs possibly approaching 38 C (100 F) the Dubai Racing Club adjusted the post times so the races will be run 1 hour later than originally scheduled. The corrected post times appear below (given in Eastern time for North American audiences).
Post positions for the big race are available below. An online racecard is available from Dubai Racing Club where you can click on each horse's name to get a form summary.
A Form Guide which has past performances for the entire card is also available from Emirates Racing Authority.
As expected Forever Young is the 8-13 morning line favorite (all odds are from OddsChecker UK at time of writing) off wins in the Tokyo Daishoten (G1) at Ohi and the Saudi Cup (G1) in Riyadh last out, after finishing a close third in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Regular rider Ryusei Sakai will be in the irons from gate 5 for trainer Yoshito Yahagi. In to challenge him include 5-1 second choice Imperial Emperor, winner of the Al Maktoum Classic (G2), the main local prep for the World Cup. Jockey Tadgh O'Shea gets the call out of post 10 for trainer Bhupat Seemar. His stablemate Walk of Stars, winner of the Al Maktoum Challenge (G1) before disappointing 12th in the Saudi Cup, is the 8-1 third choice. Mickael Barzalona will break from the rail for Seemar.
The top US hope is 25-1 outsider Rattle N Roll out of post 2, winner of the Clark (G2) at Churchill Downs and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup (G3) in Riyadh before finishing 5th in the Saudi Cup. New jockey William Buick rides for trainer Ken McPeek.
As has been the tradition at the Dubai World Cup, the horse names are drawn randomly and then the drawn horse's representative comes up to draw the post, also at random. This year, an Emirates flight attendant chooses a card with the World Cup trophy image, with the name of a horse hidden on the reverse side. That horse's representative comes up to the stage to select a jockey whip trophy, which has the post position number hidden behind a brass plate. The undercard races were electroncally drawn using the standard "double blind" system.
 The Dubai World Cup post positions. The flags correspond with the owners. |
The undercard features the two of the richest turf races in the world, the 2410 meter (about 1 1/2 mile) $6 million Sheema Classic (G1) and the 1800 meter (about 1 1/8 mile) $5 million Dubai Turf (G1). In the Sheema Classic, carded immediately before the main event, Juddmonte International (G1) and QIPCO Champion (G1) runner-up Calandagan is the 2-1 favorite over 3-1 second choice Rebel's Romance, winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1), and 11-2 third choice Shin Emperor, winner of the Neom Turf Cup (G2). In the Turf, Hong Kong Cup (G1) winner and Saudi Cup (G1) runner-up Romantic Warrior is the 8-13 favorite over 8-1 second choice Liberty Island, 2nd in the Hong Kong Cup, and 10-1 Nations Pride, winner of the Singspiel (G2). The $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) features dirt sprinters at 1200 meters (6 furlongs), with Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) and Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G2) winner Straight No Chaser the 13-8 favorite over 7-4 second choice and defending champion Tuz off a 5 race win streak all at Meydan, and 10-1 third choice Nakatomi, 6th in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. The $1.5 million Al Quoz Sprint is a 1200 meter straightaway sprint with 3-1 co-favorites Believing, 3rd in the Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp (G1), and Howdeepisyourlove, 3rd in the Centenary Sprint Cup (G1) and Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (G1) facing 9-2 third choice West Acre, winner of the Blue Point Sprint (G2) and Nad al Sheba Turf Sprint (G3), the main local prep series.
Along with the five Group 1 events, there are 3 Group 2 events (for Thoroughbreds) carded. The $1.5 million UAE Derby (G2) features northern hemisphere 3-year-olds and southern hemisphere 4-year-olds going 1900 meters (1 3/16 miles) on the dirt, worth 100 points to the winner as part of the (new for 2025) European/Middle-Eastern Road to the Kentucky Derby (although 4-year-olds do not qualify), with Gotham Stakes (G3) winner Flood Zone the 9-4 favorite over 4-1 second choice Shin Forever, 2nd in the Saudi Derby, and 5-1 Heart of Honor, 2nd in both the UAE 2000 Guineas (G3) and Al Bastakiya. This spectacular night of racing kicks off with three $1 million races, the Dubai Kahayla Classic (G1) for purebred Arabians, followed by the Dubai Gold Cup (G2) at 3200 meters (2 miles) on turf, and the Godolphin Mile (G2) at 1600 meters (1 mile) on dirt.
| Post Time | Race Name | ||
| 8:35 a.m. ET | Dubai Kahayla Classic (Arabians) | ||
| 9:10 a.m. ET | Dubai Gold Cup (T) | ||
| 9:45 a.m. ET | Godolphin Mile | ||
| 10:20 a.m. ET | Al Quoz Sprint (T) | ||
| 11:00 a.m. ET | UAE Derby | ||
| 11:40 a.m. ET | Dubai Golden Shaheen | ||
| 12:15 p.m. ET | Dubai Turf (T) | ||
| 12:50 p.m. ET | Dubai Sheema Classic (T) | ||
| 1:30 p.m. ET | Dubai World Cup |
Note that the saddlecloth numbers do not correspond to posts, but are instead in order of handicap weights (as is the practice in most of the world). The World Cup goes off at 1:30PM (all times Eastern), while the first race is the $1 million Dubai Kahayla Classic for Purebred Arabians at 8:35AM. The table to the right has all the post times.
Since betting is illegal in the UAE, the international wagering hub is the World Pool hosted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and their rules apply. Since Dubai won't do odds, the morning line odds shown below are from OddsChecker.com at time of writing. Also note that the saddlecloth numbers used for betting do not correspond to post positions.
The races will be shown live on FanDuel TV in the U.S. and HPI-TV in Canada, as well as at racetracks and simulcast sites. In addition, Fox Sports 1 will show the undercard, with the main event shown on Fox Sports 2 (due to scheduling conflicts after post times were adjusted).. The locally produced show on Dubai Racing Channel can be viewed live here starting at 8:00am ET.
Below are the entries and post positions for the Dubai World Cup. All entrants carry 57 kg (125.7 lb) as there are no fillies or mares entered this year.
| Post | Saddle Cloth | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | 10 | Walk of Stars | M. Barzalona | B. Seemar | 8-1 |
| 2 | 8 | Rattle N Roll | W. Buick | K. McPeek | 25-1 |
| 3 | 11 | Wilson Tesoro | Y. Kawada | N. Takagi | 25-1 |
| 4 | 9 | Ushba Tesoro | A. Sugawara | N. Takagi | 14-1 |
| 5 | 1 | Forever Young | R. Sakai | Y. Yahagi | 8-13 |
| 6 | 3 | Il Miracolo | J. Velazquez | A. Sano | 66-1 |
| 7 | 2 | Hit Show | F. Geroux | B. Cox | 40-1 |
| 8 | 6 | Mixto | L. Dettori | D. O'Neill | 40-1 |
| 9 | 7 | Ramjet | K. Miura | S. Sasaki | 25-1 |
| 10 | 4 | Imperial Emperor | T. O'Shea | B. Seemar | 5-1 |
| 11 | 5 | Katonah | S. De Sousa | D. O'Neill | 66-1 |
Official Program for the entire card with past performances. | |||||
Left: Favorite Forever Young drew post 5. Trainer Yoshito Yahagi said, "We thought [beforehand] that the wider we got, the better. I didn't want stall one or two for him so he gets a fair race, though it's not a big matter anyway."
Right: Second choice Imperial Emperor drew post 10 and third choice, stablemate Walk of Stars drew the rail. His trainer Bhupat Seemar said it was a “great draw” and expects his horse to be “rocking and rolling” with Forever Young.
Left: Trainer Noboru Takagi has Wilson Tesoro from post 3 and Ushba Tesoro from the 4. Tagaki said of Wilson Tesoro that he was "happy to avoid a wide draw" while the habitually slow-starting Ushba Tesoro would "run his own race, regardless of the draw."
Right: Rattle N Roll, who is bidding to become the first American winner since Country Grammer in 2022, will exit the gates from stall two.
His trainer Kenny McPeek said, “The inside draw was good. It’s a long run to the first turn and he can tuck in and find his way from there. In these races you need to save as much ground as possible.”
Dubai World Cup Links:
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