Senor Buscador, Ushba Tesoro head prospective field for Dubai World Cup

Saudi Cup winner Senor Buscador and runner-up Ushba Tesoro top 13 horses announced Monday by the Dubai Racing Club as likely runners in the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 30.

Senor Buscador beat Ushba Tesoro by a head in the Saudi Cup, a 1 1/8-mile race around one turn, but Ushba Tesoro is the defending champion in the two-turn, 1 1/4-mile Dubai World Cup, having captured the 2023 renewal by 2 3/4 lengths.

Senor Buscador is one of four American-based horses among the projected runners along with Newgate, Newgrange, and Crupi.

Derma Sotogake, fifth in the Saudi Cup after a good second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, also is in Dubai and expected to run in the World Cup. Two more Japanese horses, Dura Erede and Wilson Tesoro, shipped directly from Japan to Dubai without going to Saudi Arabia.

Kabirkhan and Laurel River lead the Dubai-based team. Kabirkhan will be facing by far the toughest field he’s met, but the 4-year-old, owned by Kazakh connection and first based in Russia, has notched two impressive Dubai wins this winter for trainer Doug Watson. American expatriate Laurel River didn’t start between August 2022 and Jan. 26, and after a modest run in his sprint comeback, he scored a 6 3/4-length victory March 2 in the one-mile Burj Nahaar.

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The $6 million Sheema Classic over 1 1/2 miles on turf has a dozen likely runners and is shaping up as a typically strong contest. Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Auguste Rodin tops the group, which, on race night, also could include star England-based filly Emily Upjohn as well as 2022 Breeder’s Cup Turf-winner Rebel’s Romance and a quartet of Japan-based horses – Justin Palace, Liberty Island, Shahryar, and Stars on Earth.

Lord North will seek his third straight win in the $5 million Dubai Turf, a nine-furlong race that could include his John Gosden-trained stablemate Nashwa. Do Deuce is Japan’s leading hope, and Voyage Bubble has excellent Hong Kong form. The American horse Catnip is an expected runner.

Sibelius will attempt to win the $2 million Golden Shaheen for the second year in a row and could have as many as four other American-based foes, among them Run Classic, a sharp recent comeback winner at Gulfstream Park.

The Japan-based Kentucky Derby hopeful Forever Young tops the $1 million UAE Derby, while American-based Casa Creed rates a solid chance in the Al Quoz Sprint and Saudi Crown is the horse to beat in the Godolphin Mile.

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