The Dubai World Cup draw…a difficult gate for “Meydan” and ideal for “Hit Show” and “Forever Young”

The draw for the “Dubai World Cup” race, which was drawn today, Wednesday, resulted in the sole representative of the Emirates in the ninth round, and the President “Meydan” with the logo of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, getting the relatively difficult second gate during the start of the race, whose prizes amount to 12 million dollars, and which is allocated to purebred hybrid horses for the first category, “Group 1”, the highest classification in the world, and is scheduled for the 30th evening next Saturday.
The draw for the main round served the most prominent candidates for the title, represented by last year’s champion, the Qatari horse “Heat Show” with the “Wathanan Racing” team logo, and the Japanese horse “Forever Young”, recently crowned champion of the Saudi Cup, by obtaining two ideal starting gates for the race extending over a distance of 2000 meters of sand, which will start successively from lanes five and six.
The draw took place in the presence of Ali Al Ali, a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Director of the Dubai Racing Club, representatives of the companies sponsoring the nine rounds of the Dubai World Cup evening, and the owners and trainers of the horses participating in the evening, which begins next Saturday, with the participation of 101 horses representing 15 countries, competing for the titles of the nine rounds, with a total prize pool of $30.5 million (112.03 million dirhams).
The main race witnesses a competition between nine of the best sand track horses on the international scene, with the results of the draw varying in difficulty, especially after the fifth gate for the representative of Qatar and defending champion “Heat Show” enhances his chances of being able to repeat the victory achieved in the past world, and equaling the historical achievement of the star of the “Godolphin” team, the horse “Thunder Thano”, champion of the 2018 and 2019 editions and the only horse to have succeeded in winning the main race twice in history. Successively, he achieved it under the supervision of international coach Saeed bin Surour.
The Japanese horse “Forever Young”, which came third in last year’s edition, raised its chances, after the draw gave it an ideal gate, especially since the horse returns again to the main race, armed with the remarkable achievements it achieved last season, most notably its victory last November in the famous American “Breed’s Cup Classic” race, and it was followed last month by being crowned champion of the Saudi Cup, which makes it a strong candidate to compete for the title.
The draw did not do justice to the only representative of the American horse, “Magnitude,” after the draw placed him in the first gate, before the Saudi representative, the horse “Walk of Stars,” owned by “Athba Racing,” won the third gate, next to him, the British representative, the horse, “Heart of Honor,” owned by “Game & Clear Limited,” which came in the fourth gate.
The second representative of Britain, the horse “Imperial Emperor,” owned by “Diva Racing,” came in the seventh gate, while the Russian representative, the horse “Top Leader,” won the eighth gate, while the second representative of Qatar, the horse “Tumbarumba,” will start with the slogan “Wathnan Racing” and under the supervision of coach Hamad Al-Juhani, by placing him in the ninth and final gate.