The horse “Live Is Good” carries the hopes of the United States to break the Emirati monopoly on the Dubai World Cup, which kicks off its twenty-sixth edition Saturday at the Meydan Racecourse, with prizes amounting to 30.5 million dollars, including 12 million dollars for the main run.
The horse “Live Is Good” carries the hopes of the United States to break the Emirati monopoly on the Dubai World Cup, which kicks off its twenty-sixth edition Saturday at the Meydan Racecourse, with prizes amounting to 30.5 million dollars, including 12 million dollars for the main run.
In 2021, “Mystic Guide” retained the Dubai World Cup title in the UAE for the third consecutive edition, and the thirteenth in the history of the race, which began in 1996, compared to 8 titles for America, which “California Chrome” gave in 2016, its last titles.
Saudi Arabia, Japan, Brazil and Australia also have one win each.
Led by Puerto Rican jockey Irad Ortis, “Live Is Good” gained his fame by defeating his compatriot “Nex Joe” the horse of the year in America in 2021, in the Pegasus World Cup race at Gulfstream Park in Florida.
With the announcement of his participation in the Dubai World Cup, the horse, which had only lost once in the seven races that it contested, became the most prominent candidate for the title of the main race and the $7.2 million prize awarded to the champion against 2.4 runner-up out of 12 million.
He also represents America, “Hot Road Charlie” and “Midnight Bourbon”, who will be with “Life is Good”, in an exciting confrontation with the representatives of the Emirates “Real World”, “Hypothetical” and “Magne Course”, which is ranked third in the 2021 edition.
Japan will have a prominent presence through “Chu Wizard”, which returns to participate for the second year in a row after being runner-up in the last edition, with the ambition to gift his country the second achievement after the first and only horse “Victory Besa” in 2011.
Saudi Arabia is represented by “Country Grammer”, the runner-up for the Saudi Cup, which was held last February and is the most expensive in the world, with prizes amounting to 35.1 million dollars, including 20 million for the main race.
Emirati Saeed bin Suroor, Godolphin team coach and record holder in winning the Dubai World Cup (9 titles), confirmed that the competition in the race will be “open and characterized by extreme difficulty, and it is not possible to predict the identity of the winner.”
He continued, “The race is distinguished by its strength in all respects, as there are elite Emirati, American, Japanese, Saudi and other horses on the field, and all horses have great chances to win.”
And raised the Dubai World Cup prizes this year to 30.5 million dollars, compared to 26.5 million dollars in the last edition, where the prizes for the nine rounds are not less than one million dollars per race.
Races have been held on the Meydan track since 2010, which contains stands for about 60,000 spectators, as well as a five-star hotel inside the track, a museum for horses and related matters, exhibition halls and other facilities, and before that they were held at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse.