World Pools For Dubai World Cup Program

Ushba Tesoro, the 2023 Dubai World Cup winner, finished the year by unleashing a paralyzing burst to win a second consecutive G1 Tokyo Daishoten. In his only race since, the now 7-year-old went under narrowly in the Saudi Cup to America’s Senor Buscador.

Ushba Tesoro is 5-2 favorite to become the Dubai World Cup’s second repeat winner, after Thunder Snow in 2018-'19. Saturday’s rematch with Senor Buscador (8-1) will be an obvious highlight, but there are three other horses separating them in the wagering. Japan’s Derma Sotogake (9-2), who was sixth in the Kentucky Derby and runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, can easily improve on a fifth-placed Saudi Cup finish in his 4-year-old debut. Santa Anita Handicap winner, Newgate (7-1), can provide the trainer-jockey combination of Bob Baffert and Frankie Dettori with a second success after Country Grammer took the spoils in 2022. However, for all the lofty reputations – both equine and human – attached to this year’s race, the surprise package has been an unheralded horse from Kazakhstan who sits second in the market at 7-2.

The sentimental choice and one of horse racing’s great “fairy-tale” stories is undoubtedly Kabirkhan, a son of 2016 Dubai World Cup winner California Chrome who was undefeated as a 2-year-old in Kazakhstan and a leading 3-year-old in Russia. With a part-Arabic, part-Kazakh name that translates to “Mighty King,” Kabirkhan continued his unlikely journey to stardom by joining the Dubai barn of American expat Doug Watson.

Despite being an eight-time champion UAE trainer in his 20 years since completing a mentorship under Kieran McLaughlin (himself a three-time champion UAE trainer), Watson had never won a Group/Grade 1 Thoroughbred race until Kabirkhan stormed the desert and captured the Al Maktoum Challenge in January. California Chrome’s trainer, the venerable Art Sherman, has followed Kabirkhan’s rise from obscurity with a sense of wonderment.

Sherman, who looked in fine fettle at age 87 when I had the pleasure of his company at a recent luncheon, marvels at the physical similarities and humble beginnings of both horses. California Chrome’s breeders paid $8,000 for his dam, while Kabirkhan was a $12,000 Keeneland yearling purchase after a downturn in his sire’s stud career had seen “Chrome” relocated to Japan. California Chrome, a two-time U.S. Horse of the Year and 2023 Hall of Fame inductee who has been largely overlooked as a stallion, could ironically become the first winner of the Dubai World Cup to sire a Dubai World Cup winner.

The showpiece race is the climax of a program which boasts a tremendous variety of conditions:

• Race 1 is the Kahayla Classic for Arabians at 1 1/4 miles on dirt.

• Race 2 is the Godolphin Mile on dirt.

• Race 3 is the Dubai Gold Cup, at two miles on turf.

• Race 4 is the Al Quoz Sprint, a straight six-furlong spectacle on turf.

• 100 Kentucky Derby points to the winner are up for grabs in the UAE Derby, Race 5 at 1 3/16 miles on dirt.

• U.S. sprinter Sibelius returns to defend his title in the Golden Shaheen, Race 6 at six furlongs on dirt.

• The extraordinary 8-year-old Lord North is back to rekindle his love affair with the Dubai Turf, Race 7 at 1 1/8 miles, which he has won each of the past three years.

• Race 8, The Sheema Classic at 1 1/2 miles on turf, features the past two winners of the Breeders’ Cup Turf, Auguste Rodin and Rebel’s Romance. The former races for the first time since Ryan Moore’s widely lauded Breeders’ Cup ride last Fall. (Moore rode in Sydney last weekend and will immediately return to Australia for The Championships at Randwick on April 5 and 12.) The Sheema Classic will also be graced by star Japanese filly Liberty Island, winner of her nation’s “Triple Tiara.”