Who Will Reign In The 2016 Dubai World Cup?

Who Will Reign In The 2016 Dubai World Cup? The 2016 running of the Dubai World Cup will once again be contested as the richest race on the planet as the best middle distance horses from around the world will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Prince Bishop, who was successful in 2015.

Prince Bishop’s victory was the first by an eight-year-old in the history of the race so it may attract an older entry list this time around as the Saeed bin Suroor-trained horse proved age was no obstacle.

Toast of New York is at the time of writing at odds of 10/1 for the 2016 Dubai World Cup with Bet365 in their ante-post market. The Jamie Osbourne-trained, UK-based horse has not been seen on a racetrack since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, California in 2014. The four-year-old was beaten by just a nose on that occasion in a controversial race won by Bayern.

Osbourne may decide to give his runner a preparation outing at the carnival in Dubai before the main event in late March. If successful in the World Cup, it will be one of the great training performances in recent years given the length off the track. Before the horse’s injury setback, Toast of New York had established itself as one of the best middle distance runners in the world and had proved that travelling was no obstacle to the horse.

California Chrome went into the 2015 Dubai World Cup as the hot favorite to transfer his form in America to the Tapeta synthetic dirt of Meydan. However, he had to settle for second place on that occasion. Art Sherman’s runner is expected to return for another shot at the 2016 meeting. Connections decided against travelling to Dubai in January and instead had a preparation run at Santa Anita in February. A different approach is likely to be considered this time around.

With American Pharoah making all the headlines in the USA this year, it is easy to forget that California Chrome came just one race away from winning the Triple Crown when he fell short in the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park. He was successful in the Kentucky Derby in May, 2014 and then followed that up with victory in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. But the extended trip in the final leg of the Triple Crown proved too much for him.

Sheikh Mohammed takes great pride in the Dubai World Cup meeting and is never short of a few entries as an owner. His best chance this year looks to come with Frosted, who races in the States under the Godolphin Racing LLFC ownership where the colt is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin.

Frosted has yet to race outside of American in his career so far. He scored in his very first Grade One success back in April at Aqueduct when he won the Memorial Stakes by two lengths after being held up at the start of the race before finishing with a late burst under Joel Rosario. He also added prize money this season at Parx when he took the Pennsylvania Derby after going off the even money favorite.

The big-money Dubai World Cup Carnival gets underway on Thursday, January 7, 2016 and features 10 days of high-class international racing leading up to the Dubai World Cup on Saturday, March 26, 2016.