Arrogate Nominated For World Cup

Arrogate | Mathea Kelley

Juddmonte Farms's Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), the world's highest-rated racehorse of 2016, has been nominated to the $10-million G1 Dubai World Cup on Mar. 25 at Meydan Racecourse. Arrogate, one of 168 entries to the World Cup, won last year's GI Travers S. and GI Breeders' Cup Classic and opened his 4-year-old season with a win in the Jan. 28 GI Pegasus World Cup.

Other U.S.-trained nominations to the World Cup include Arrogate's former Bob Baffert stablemate Dortmund (Big Brown), now trained by California Chrome's former trainer Art Sherman, and champion 3-year-old filly Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro). G2 UAE Derby winner and last year's World Cup runner-up Mubtaahij (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) will look to go one better, and last year's UAE Derby winner Lani (Tapit) will look to make it back-to-back wins on the big night.

There are a total of 1,549 nominations from 779 horses from 22 countries for World Cup night, which features five Group 1s and three Group 2s for Thoroughbreds. Also among the highlights is U.S. champion grass mare and G1 Queen Anne S. winner Tepin (Bernstein), nominated for the G1 Dubai Turf. Postponed (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) looks set to defend his title in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, where he could oppose the formidable Ballydoyle pair of Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Seventh Heaven (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). The former also holds a World Cup entry.

The G1 Al Quoz Sprint on turf will be held over 1200 metres for the first time, and among the nominations are European standout sprinter Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}), Hong Kong's Peniaphobia (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), Australian speedball Malaguerra (Aus) (Magnus {Aus}) and French Group 1 winner Signs Of Blessing (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).

The G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen over 1200 metres on dirt features a pair of American Group 1 winners: champion sprinter Drefong (Gio Ponti) and Malibu S. winner Mind Your Biscuits (Posse).

Malih Al Basti, Meydan Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Meydan Racing Committee, said, “With 22 countries represented among the 2017 Dubai World Cup nominations we once again look forward to hosting a truly global day of racing on Mar 25. We are gratified that our support for international racing in the form of subsidies and prize money continues to attract such a strong response from the world's biggest names. Yet we are just as pleased to welcome to the Dubai World Cup the relative newcomers to the world stage from countries such as South Korea. Our wish, and that of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, when he founded the Dubai World Cup in 1996, was to create a truly global event and it is rewarding to see that vision fulfilled year after year.”

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