Dubai World Cup

While the final of the roughly two dozen Group 1 races on the Japan Racing Association was scheduled for Thursday, the Tokyo Daishoten--the only recognized international Group 1 event and pattern race of any variety on the National Association of Racing circuit--takes place Friday afternoon at Ohi Racecourse in the Japanese capital. Under normal circumstances, the discussion of the 2000-metre dirt affair would begin and end with Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), whose victory here 12 months ago catapulted him to future success on the world stage in the G1...

A day after his victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, trainer Rick Dutrow was already mapping out a plan to take White Abarrio (Race Day) to the Feb. 24 G1 Saudi Cup. Dutrow said he hopes to leave the 4-year-old at Santa Anita for a while and probably will take him to Saudi Arabia to be prepared for the race. "I would be comfortable running him in the Saudi Cup in his next start," Dutrow said. "I'm going to be pushing for it. I think that's where this horse...

G1 Dubai World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), prepping for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, breezed four furlongs in a hand-timed :49 2/5 Sunday at Santa Anita. The Takagi Noboru trainee left the quarantine barn at 6:15 a.m., walking for 15 minutes until the track opened and then proceeded to the main track. Allowed to ease into his work at the half-mile pole and around the far turn, he did not begin lengthening stride and quickening until turning for home, impressing onlookers down the lane and into a...

Making his first start since a history-making success in the G1 Dubai World Cup just over six months ago, Kenji Ryotokuji Holdings' Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) prepped for a possible appearance in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Nov. 4 with a comfortable victory in Wednesday's Listed Nippon TV Hai at Funabashi Race Track near Tokyo. Yuga Kawada was at the controls when the 6-year-old rallied from last to become Japan's first World Cup winner on dirt, but settled the blinkered bay much closer to the pace...

Kenji Ryotokuji's Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), last seen recording a powerful victory over an international field in the G1 Dubai World Cup in late March, returns to the races in Wednesday's $456,960 Listed Nippon TV Hai at Funabashi Racecourse about 25 minutes east of Central Tokyo. The 1800-meter test will serve as his lone prep for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita in a little more than five weeks' time. The 6-year-old, bought for just under $220,000 as a foal at the 2017 JRHA Select Sale, made...

2022 G1 Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer (Tonalist) has been retired at the age of six. He will stand the 2024 season at WinStar Farm for an introductory fee of $10,000 LFSN. Campaigned by Commonwealth, WinStar Farm, and Zedan Racing, the Bob Baffert-trained colt started three times this year, finishing second for the second year in a row in the G1 Saudi Cup but failing to hit the board in both his Dubai World Cup defense and the GII Hollywood Gold Cup S. May 29. Bought for just $110,000...

The tracks of the Emirates Racing Association (ERA) will stage a total of 61 meetings in 2023-2024 after the fixture list was given the stamp of approval by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Presidential Court and Chairman of the ERA. The racing season in the Emirates begins Oct. 28 at Al Ain Racecourse and continues the following day at Sharjah Longines Racecourse. Jebel Ali Racecourse will open its doors for the first time on Nov. 4, and racing at...

Ever since she was a young girl, Chelsie Raabe had dreamed of reaching the pinnacle moment in her career as an equestrian, where she envisioned one day standing atop the Olympic podium or making the victorious walk out following a clear cross-country round at the Land Rover Three-Day event. But it wasn't until the evening of March 25 at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, as she looked up at a bustling grandstand that echoed with the crescendo of excited fans awaiting the start of the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen on...

The Dubai Racing Club (DRC) on Sunday announced a new structure for the 2023-24 racing season at Meydan, renaming the entire event from December through March as the Dubai Racing Carnival and boosting purses by AED11 million, a 27% increase over last season. The season will offer three feature race nights starting in December (AED4.7 million), then January (AED10 million), and Super Saturday in March (AED 10million), which brings the total purses for the three meetings to AED24.7 million. The minimum purse for non-stakes races is AED165,000, which is back...

It felt like a literal solstice, a moment marking our transition to a different phase in the alignment of the Thoroughbred firmament. Because the meteoric performance of Equinox (Jpn) in Dubai on Saturday night, as highlight of another momentous evening for Japan, left rival breeders everywhere speechless. Perhaps, they wondered next morning, this was what was meant by a Sunday silence. There are so many lessons in Japan's accession as a dominant influence on the 21st Century Thoroughbred, a trend that even the most obtuse and parochial of us cannot...

Saturday's G1 Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan saw World Pool's globally commingled turnover hit HK$315,177,810 (approx. $40.1m) across the eight-race card, a rise of $33.6 million (approx. $4.2m) over 2022. The $12 million feature, won by Japanese raider Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), drew the highest handle of the night, with pari-mutuel organisations from over 20 countries betting HK$54,521,829 (approx. $6.9m) on the race. It became World Pool's highest turnover race of 2023 so far, surpassing the HK$48.4m (approx. $6.1m) wagered on the G1 Saudi Cup in February. The...

A World Cup meeting needs world-class runners plus a global spread of results. This much and more was delivered by the 27th Dubai World Cup and supporting races at Meydan on Saturday. With 26 runners on the night, it was always a given that Japan would feature prominently and, in an exhibition of excellence that we are now becoming accustomed to, they led all comers, just as they had in Riyadh last month. The performance of Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) alone was pretty dramatic, coming from tailed off to...