Dubai World Cup at Meydan

There is high class racing all over the world today, but pride of place obviously goes to the big meeting at Meydan and in particular the Dubai Gold Cup, with 10 million $ in prize-money the world´s richest race, which is run at 19.05 CET on tapeta. 13 line up, including the first 3 from last year- Monterosso (Mahmood al Zarooni/ Mikael Barzalona), stable companion Capponi (Ahmed Ajtebi) and Planteur (Marco Botti/ Ryan Moore), however we much prefer Royal Delta (Bill Mott/ Mike Smith), the only filly in the field, who was badly hampered last year but has top class form in the USA to her credit. Americans have a great record here and we would not be in the least surprised to see them take the first 3 places as Animal Kingdom (Graham Motion/ Joel Rosario) and Dullahan (Dale Romans/ Gary Stevens) also hold strong claims.

From the German point of view it would be good tzon see Animal Kingdpom score, as the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner is out of a German dam; even better would be a win for Kassiano (Saeed bin Suroor/ William Buick), bred by Gestüt Röttgen and trained in Germany last year. He has been in great form here, but looks held by his stable companion Hunter´s Light (Silvestre de Sousa), who beat him easily enough over this CD last time and looks the best of the 5 Godolphin runners.

This is an extremely strong field, certainly better than last year, but we expect an American victory, although which of their 3 runners is hard to say. Bets will be settled at the odds of British bookmakers, who make Hunter´s Light favourite at around 4-1, but we do not think is justified. There has been much talk of the effect of the draw, with Kassiamo and Animal Kingdom drawn out wide, but we do not think this is all-important, although possibly a middle draw is best. Certainly the inside rail is not the place to be, so we go with Royal Delta, drawn 8.

Update: Godolphin´s Monterosso winner of the 2012 Dubai World Cup, is a non-runner for today´s race. His jockey Mikael Barzalona will now switch to African Story.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Tm Fred Texas - Areem - Nieshan
2. Race: Soft Falling Rain - Penitent - Master Of Hounds
3. Race: Imperial Monarch - Saddler`S Rock - Cavalryman
4. Race: Secret Number - Law Enforcement - Lines Of Battle
5. Race: Shea Shea - Eagle Regiment - Sole Power
6. Race: Mental - Gordon Lord Byron - Trinniberg
7. Race: Trade Storm - Ocean Park - Little Mike
8. Race: Gentildonna - St Nicholas Abbey - Shareta
9. Race: Hunter`S Light - Royal Delta - Animal Kingdom