DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Bernie Schiappa, part-owner of Game On Dude, said there is little doubt that trainer Bob Baffert will be in attendance at Meydan on Saturday night when Game On Dude runs in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
“Is the sky blue? Are you kidding me?” Schiappa said Tuesday morning when asked if Baffert would be able to make the races. “You’d have to drag him out of here. Trust me, he’ll be here. He’ll probably be sitting next to Sheikh [Mohammed].”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Bill Mott arrived in Dubai on Tuesday morning, reuniting with the filly, Royal Delta, he had shipped here from Florida a week ago. It was a trip he had first thought about taking four months ago. It was a trip he wondered for some time if he would be permitted to make.
Trainer Herman Brown had to sweat it out until entry day, but his recently acquired 3-year-old, Maritimer, drew into Saturday night’s $2 million UAE Derby.
A dual stakes winner in Canada as a 2-year-old, Maritimer only drew into the race when Boby Di Job , a horse rated higher than Maritimer, did not enter the race. The UAE Derby drew 17 entrants, but only 14 will be permitted to start.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – In 2001, the last time trainer Bob Baffert won the Dubai World Cup, one of his top assistants was Tim Yakteen.
Though Yakteen has been training on his own for eight years now, Baffert has summoned his former assistant to assist in his quest for a third Dubai World Cup with Game On Dude this Saturday at Meydan.
Yakteen's presence took on even greater significance when Baffert suffered a heart attack Monday morning.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Led by Breeders’ Cup winners St Nicholas Abbey and Wrote, trainer Aidan O’Brien entered five horses Monday as post positions were drawn for eight of the nine races on Saturday’s $27.2 million Dubai World Cup card at Meydan.
Post positions for the $10 million Dubai World Cup -- the world’s richest race -- will be drawn Wednesday. O’Brien is expected to enter So You Think in that race.
Curren Chan was Japan’s champion sprinter of 2011, largely on the basis of her win in the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes last October.
Sunday at Chukyo Racecourse, the 5-year-old mare by Kurofune staked an early claim to the 2012 title with a victory in the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, the first race at the level in Japan this year.
The winner of a Group 1 race in Australia on Friday may be bound for Europe.
Foxwedge, the 11-1 upset winner of the Group 1 William Reid Stakes for sprinters at Moonee Valley on Friday, is a candidate for the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.
Ridden by Nash Rawiller, Foxwedge stalked the early pace in the Reid Stakes and took the lead in the final 50 yards to upset 1-2 favorite Hay List. Hay List had finished behind the undefeated superstar Black Caviar four times since the first of 2011.
With shopping malls, ribbons of freeways, and a tumult of skyscrapers, the Middle Eastern emirate of Dubai has long radiated an unusually Western vibe. And for years, the Dubai World Cup racing program felt a lot like a cross-section of America plunked down in the Arabian Desert.
In 2003, a total of 21 U.S.-based horses were shipped to Dubai to run in the seven-figure stakes races on World Cup Night, and as recently as 2008, 14 horses made the trip. But that dynamic has shifted.
Curren Chan, the 5-year-old mare who was Japan’s champion sprinter of 2011, will attempt to end a two-race losing streak in Sunday’s $2.4 million Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo Racecourse, Japan’s first Grade 1 of the year.
Curren Chan earned her title with a victory in the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes last October, but has lost her last two starts.
Manighar and Shoot Out, Group 1 winners on March 10, are two of the leading contenders for Saturday’s $428,000 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill Racecourse in Australia.
Manighar, fifth in the 2011 Melbourne Cup, won the $1.07 million Australian Cup at Flemington Racecourse on March 10. A 6-year-old French-bred gelding trained by Peter Moody, of Black Caviar fame, Manighar is making his second consecutive start over about 1 1/4 miles on turf in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes.
