About
Dubai World Cup is a yearly Thoroughbred horse race held at Meydan Racecourse, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The 2000-meter Group 1 flat race is run on a dirt surface and takes place on the last Saturday of every March.
History
In 1981, Shaikh Muhammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum organized the first thoroughbred race in Dubai. Only the splint, one mile, and one and a half mile races were run. Dubai World Cup officially started in 1996 with jockey Jelly Bailey winning the first race while riding Cigar.
In the early years, the competition had prize money of $4 million. In 2010, it was raised to $10 million, making it the world’s richest horse race. However, in 2017, the tournament lost the prestigious title to Pegasus World Cup.
Between 2010 and 2014, the Dubai World Cup was held on an all-weather surface called Tapeta. However, it was
expensive to maintain and was not popular among American racers. In 2015 however, the race reverted to the dirt
surface.
The 2006 live broadcast of the event by TVG Network and HRTV was the first time it showed on American national television.
Record
Jelly Bailey is the most successful jockey at the event, winning four times. He won with four different horses namely
Cigar (1996), Singspiel (1997), Captain Steve (2001), and Street Cry (2002).
African Story has the speed record on a synthetic surface when he took 2:01.61 minutes at Meydan Racecourse in
2014. The 2018 winner, Thunder Snow, has the speed record on a dirt surface after taking 2:01.38 minutes.
Past Winners
Given that Dubai World Cup is a young race compared to other tournaments such as the Melbourne Cup and Kentucky Derby, there is a good explanation as to why no horse has ever won it twice. Christophe Soumillon won this year’s event riding while riding Thunder Snow. The most recent winners at the competition are Arrogate (2017), California Chrome (2016), Prince Bishop (2015), and African Story (2014) by jockeys Mike E. Smith, Victor Espinoza, William Buick, and Silvestre de Sousa respectively.