Full fields expected for Dubai World Cup card

Field size will not be an issue on the Dubai World Cup card of March 27.

The Dubai Racing Club on Wednesday announced likely entrants for the World Cup program, and six of the eight Thoroughbred races are expected to lure 14 or 15 runners.

The shorter fields come in the Dubai Gold Cup, with 10 likely entrants, and the Sheema Classic, which has nine likely entrants listed. The Sheema makes up in quality whatever it lacks in quantity, with five Group 1 or Grade 1 winners among the expected starters – Chronogenesis and Love Only You from Japan, Mishriff from England, Mogul from Ireland, and Channel Maker from the United States.

Fourteen likely entrants are listed for the $12 million World Cup, a prospective field headed by Mystic Guide. Grade 1-placed as a 3-year-old in 2020, Mystic Guide punched his ticket to Dubai with sharp victory in the Razorback Handicap on Feb. 27 at Oaklawn Park.

Mystic Guide was one of 14 U.S.-based horses aboard a Dubai-bound flight that left Tuesday from Florida. Three other Americans – Sleepy Eyes Todd for the World Cup, Channel Maker for the Sheema, and Cowan for the Al Quoz, a six-furlong turf sprint – have been in Dubai several weeks after shipping from Saudi Arabia, where they raced Feb. 20.

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Tacitus also made the Saudi to Dubai trip but came up with an injury last week that took him out of World Cup consideration. Florida-based Mr Freeze had been expected to ship for the World Cup but was removed from consideration earlier this week.

The other Americans shipping for the World Cup are Jesus’ Team, second in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and Title Ready, winner of the Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds in his most recent start.

Based on international ratings, American runners hold a meaningful edge over the other entrants. Salute the Soldier, who races for Bahraini connections, has been the best dirt-route horse in Dubai this winter but looks a cut (or more) below World Cup standard. Great Scot, a Saudi-based horse, finished third in the Saudi Cup, beating Pegasus winner Knicks Go.

American shippers Yaupon, Wildman Jack, Jalen Journey, and Zenden are bound for the Golden Shaheen, the six-furlong dirt sprint. Yaupon and Wildman Jack should be very competitive in a likely field that includes two capable Japanese horses in Copano Kicking and Matera Sky, one-two in the dirt sprint on the Saudi Cup program.

Godolphin’s Space Blues is the Al Quoz favorite but Extravagant Kid has form to contend. His trainer, Brendan Walsh, won the UAE Derby in 2019 with Plus Que Parfait. Three-year-old Cowan gets a break in the weights facing older horses and ran well behind Golden Pal in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

The Americans for this year’s UAE Derby are Ambivalent, a last-out turf-sprint maiden winner at Santa Anita, and Lugamo, stakes-placed in a sprint and unraced since November. U.S.-based Snapper Sinclair, Avant Garde, and Parsimony are headed to the Godolphin Mile.

Lord North, fourth last out in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and Lord Glitters, the leading horse at nine furlongs this winter in Dubai, top a moderate renewal of the Group 1 Dubai Turf.