Whistle jacket
That was the 30th Dubai World Cup night
Fortunately the rain and the missiles stopped for the night and the meeting went ahead without any more problems.
Both had an impact though as the fields were much depleted by the absence of international runners who had not been in Dubai when the war started and then the rain was extremely heavy. There was one year when they had to move the date of the future meetings because of the rain. As a result of the rain this year – which fortunately stopped on Friday – the times in nearly all the races were slower than average.
So here's a quick look at the results and a few comments. Banishing at 6/1 took out the Godolphin Mile as the first shock of the night, with Commissioner King and Mendelssohn Bay filling the minors.
And a bigger shock in the Dubai Gold Cup when Fairy Glen 20/1 won for the Crisfords and Barzalona and Caballo de Mar 15/2 ran second and Al Nayyir 10/1 third leaving the more fancied runners back in the field.
The UAE Derby went again to Japan when Wonder Dean 5/1 won from Six Speed who had set a ferocious pace and the other Japanese runner Pyromancer ran third.
There was a double in the Sprints when bin Hanash and Connor Beasley combined to win both races – the Al Quoz with Native Approach 28/2 who outran the Japanese runner Lugal and the French Lazzat and then the Shaheen with our roughie Dark Saffron who had one this race last year, and we hope you got the 20/1. American sprinter Bentornato was second and Cots By Five 28/1 third.
The Dubai Turf was easily won by Ombudsman in fast time with Quddwah 8/1 second and outsider Andreas Vesalius 50/1 a shock third.
And as predicted the Sheema was virtually an exercise gallop for Calandagan although West Wind Blow and Giavallotto did make brave efforts but the Sheema with only six runners? Oh dear.
Then the big one Dubai World Cup – Magnitude flew the gates and under another top ride from Jose Ortiz was able to keep the leading spot right to the wire. He had missed the Saudi Cup with a foot issue so was fresh for this and Ortiz is probably our favourite American jockey as he is an excellent horseman. Forever Young tried but it looked like the track did not help as he normally picks up a bit better than this so it was not his night although second prize money should keep him in oats for a bit longer. Meydaan ran a creditable third and Tumbarumba tried hard to keep in touch with the leaders but was three wide and that took its toll in the end.
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