Sport360° view: Dubai World Cup raises the bar with another spectacular edition

Joy Chakravarty 12:46 30/03/2014
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  • Celebration time: De Sousa celebrates with the spectacular trophy.

    Every year the Dubai World Cup never fails to live up to all the hype and hoopla. This edition, the 19th running of the richest race in the world, was no exception.

    A record crowd of 75,000-plus witnessed a brilliant spectacle unfold before their eyes, with the highlight being the home win for Godolphin in the final race of the evening.

    The win in the feature race of the night – the $10 million Dubai World Cup – gave His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum his seventh winner in the 19-year history of the race.

    The World Cup has become an event in which it is difficult to find a fault. It is superbly organised, and ticks all the boxes.

    It showcases the city in all its glory across the globe, it entertains its residents and visitors like few other events do, and it provides a great platform for the sponsors involved to achieve a bang for the buck spent.

    An early announcement regarding the 2015 edition has set the tone for what is to come – both Group 1 turf races, Dubai Duty Free and Dubai Sheema Classic, will offer an increased prize purse of $6 million each, up by $1 million from last night.

    Connoisseurs of the racing would perhaps have just one complaint – the lack of American interest this year.

    Horses from the other side of the pond have always played a major role in the night’s revelry, having won eight of the previous 18 editions.

    Animal Kingdom, who was the defending Dubai World Cup champion, is also from the States. But this year, there were none in the big race.

    Experts have blamed the allweather Tapeta surface for this apparent apathy from the American connections.

    There is a belief there that the synthetic surface, once considered the future of racing, is dangerous for the horses, and hence, they have it in no more than a handful of courses there and prefer dirt and turf.

    Although unconfirmed by the Meydan officials, there is a feeling that the Tapeta surface may be removed next year.

    While meeting the media on the eve of the race, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, brother of Sheikh Mohammed and two-time Dubai World Cup winner, was asked why the Americans stayed away this year.

    He said: “When Animal Kingdom won the title last year, his trainer said, ‘Thank God we have won the cup and our horse is safe’.

    “The Americans didn’t like to send their horses to race on the surface after having removed it from all their tracks, and never race on the Tapeta anymore.”

    Surely, the absence of American connections is something that Sheikh Mohammed would have noticed.

    His vision for the Dubai World Cup is simple – it’s a competition to showcase the best horses in the world. One can rest assured that he would have already looked into the issue and will rectify it.

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