An Early Look at the 2019 Dubai World Cup Card

Nominations for the $35 million Dubai World Cup card at Meydan Racecourse on March 30 were released last week. The day is topped by the $12 million Dubai World Cup itself, the richest race in the world.

Nominations for the big dance are led by defending champion Thunder Snow, who took the race by storm last year when he won by 5 ¾ lengths in race record time of 2:01.38. Thunder Snow has not raced since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last November, beaten less than two lengths by Accelerate. He is one of 14 horses nominated for the World Cup that are under the care of trainer Saeed Bin Suroor, who campaigns horses for massive world outfit Godolphin.

With City of Light and Accelerate both recently retired, American hopefuls for the World Cup include Battle of Midway and McKinzie, 1-2 in the San Pasqual Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita on Saturday. They are just two of the 28 American-based runners nominated to the World Cup. Expected to make the trip is Bravazo, fourth in the Pegasus World Cup (G1) on January 26. He will be Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas’s first starter in Dubai.

Horsemen from Japan are forever endeavoring to win major races overseas, and have nominated 12 horses to the World Cup, but their main hopeful on the afternoon will be Almond Eye, the wonder filly who is nominated to the $6 million Longines Dubai Sheema Classic on the grass. 

The US-based runner who will be a likely favorite is Roy H, the two-time Eclipse Champion Sprinter who finished third in the $2.5 million Dubai Golden Shaheen last year. He has won three in a row since the fall, taking a second consecutive Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) and prepping in the Palos Verdes Handicap (G2) on January 19. He will be heavily backed to avenge his los last year, while his Peter Miller-trained stablemate Stormy Liberal is nominated for the $2 million Al Quoz Sprint on the grass. Stormy Liberal ran second in that race last year, but missed his scheduled prep race on the Pegasus World Cup undercard due to rain.

The day consists of eight major stakes races for Thoroughbreds and the $1 million Dubai Kahayla Classic for Arabians. 739 total horses have been nominated.