The Dubai World Cup is the one of the richest races held anywhere in the world in horse racing and as a result it attracts the very best horses from across the globe.
This year’s race once again takes place at Meydan Racecourse and it is the feature contest of the Meydan Carnival which began back in January in the UAE.
American horses have an excellent record in the Dubai World Cup and connections of Charlatan will be hoping their runner continues that trend in 2021. The Bob Baffert-trained horse is the 4.5 favourite in the horse racing betting for this year’s contest.
Charlatan has only had three races on the track. He has finished first past the post on all of those occasions. His latest success came in a Grade One race at Santa Anita where he defeated a strong field which included Nashville.
The opening Grade One success of his career was taken away from the horse after he tested positive for a banned substance following the Arkansas Derby. He made all in that race at Oaklawn Park, finishing six lengths ahead of his rivals.
Baffert is bidding for his fourth success in the Dubai World Cup. He first won the dirt contest in 1998 with Silver Charm. Three years later Captain Steve came out on top for the American trainer. His most recent victory arrived in 2017 when the impressive Arrogate justified going off as the odds-on favourite.
Knicks Go Amongst Entries for Dubai World Cup
Another horse who is expected to make the trip from the United States for the major international contest is Knicks Go. The Breeders’ Cup Mile winner will be stepping up in trip, however, he did prevail recently over 1m1f at Gulfstream Park in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes.
Brad Cox’s five-year-old has won his last four races on the track, in a run which began back in February 2020. His last two victories have proved he is one of the best dirt horses in training right now.
Knicks Go is second best in the Dubai World Cup betting at 5.0. If successful next month, he will be only the second horse in history to win the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes and the Meydan feature in the same year.
Matterhorn Looks to Be Best of Home Horses
Matterhorn is the pick of the UAE-based horses in the Dubai World Cup this year, according to the betting as he is available at 7.5. He is bidding for major success at the Meydan Carnival for the second straight year as he won the Group One Al Maktoum Challenge in 2020.
The six-year-old used to be trained in the UK by Mark Johnston. He then moved to Salem bin Ghadayer’s yard at the start of 2020. The Dubai World Cup is likely to be his first outing in 12 months. He has an excellent record on all-weather surfaces, with eight wins from 12 starts.
This year’s Dubai World Cup is the 25th running of the race marking its silver anniversary. Whoever does come out on top will be in a good position in their bid to be named the world’s leading thoroughbred in the sport at the end of 2021.
