Post draw affords Mystic Guide no excuse in Dubai World Cup

Dubai World Cup favorite Mystic Guide drew post 6, a good spot, when post positions were drawn Wednesday for the Group 1 races on Saturday’s Dubai World Cup card.

Final entries for Saturday’s races were taken Monday, when posts for the Group 2 races on the card were assigned, but the World Cup, the Sheema Classic, the Dubai Turf, the Golden Shaheen, and the Al Quoz Sprint were part of a draw ceremony Wednesday.

The draw included a moment of silence for Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who died at 75 on Wednesday. Besides being a prominent horse owner and breeder, Maktoum was finance minister of the United Arab Emirates and deputy ruler of Dubai, and flags around the emirate were lowered to half-mast. Despite Maktoum’s death, as of Wednesday the World Cup card remained on track to go off as planned Saturday at Meydan Racecourse.

Mystic Guide did not exercise Wednesday morning at Meydan. His trainer, Mike Stidham, told the Dubai Racing Club publicity team that he kept the Godolphin colorbearer in the international quarantine facility Wednesday after a busy Tuesday night schooling at the Meydan paddock. The schooling session requires a van ride to the racetrack from the quarantine center and can be somewhat stressful on American horses unfamiliar with the routine.

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“Based on the schooling process we gave him the morning off,” Stidham said Wednesday. “He had trained [Tuesday] morning and then went over there for two hours of schooling, so we just felt like it would be best to give him an easy day. We walked and grazed him. Tomorrow he will gallop and stand in the gate.”

Wide draws and the inside posts can be difficult in the 2,000-meter Dubai World Cup, with a relatively short run to the first turn at Meydan. Stidham termed post 6 “perfect” for Mystic Guide, who ended his 2020 campaign with a close second in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and began 2021 with the fastest race of his career, romping in the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn. Mystic Guide is as short as 2-1 in early wagering with British bookmakers.

The rest of the World Cup field, from the rail out, consists of Great Scot, third in the Saudi Cup; Hypothetical, one of the better horses in a soft Dubai older-male dirt-route division this winter; Chuwa Wizard, whose solid Japanese dirt form yielded a ninth in the Saudi Cup; Title Ready, the Dallas Stewart-trained American shipper; Military Law, whose Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 win in January was his first in a group or graded race; Capezzano, a 7-year-old Dubai-based runner who peaked in 2019; Thegreatcollection, another 7-year-old based in Dubai, this one with no group or graded stakes wins; Jesus’ Team, runner-up to Knicks Go in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and the Pegasus World Cup; Sleepy Eyes Todd, fifth in the Saudi Cup and fourth in the Pegasus with trouble in both starts; Salute the Soldier, the best dirt-route horse in Dubai this year; Magny Cours, an interesting French shipper from trainer Andre Fabre; Ajuste Fiscal, a Uruguayan Group 1 winner with two mildly encouraging Dubai races this winter; and Gifts of Gold, who finished 11th in his only dirt race.

American hope Channel Maker should have no problem saving ground in the 1 1/2-mile Sheema Classic, in which he breaks from post 2 as part of a strong field of 12. This race drew Saudi Cup and French Derby winner Mishriff (post 10), Japanese multiple Group 1-winner Chrono Genesis (post 8), and Ireland-based Group 1 winner Mogul.

Lord North is easily the highest-rated horse in the Group 1 Dubai Turf, which drew 13 entrants. He breaks from post 10. This race around one turn at 1,800 meters begins with an extended straightaway, making posts less important than in the two-turn races.

Yaupon could be favored in the Golden Shaheen. He drew post 2, with Wildman Jack, another prominent American, well posted in 6.

Favored Space Blues landed post 6 for the six-furlong, straight-course Al Quoz Sprint, where American 3-year-old Cowan drew post 1, which can be a difficult spot. Two other Americans have better draws, True Valour in post 7 and Extravagant Kid in post 8.

The nine-race program begins at 7:45 a.m. Eastern with an Arabian race. Post time for the World Cup is 12:50 Eastern.