Dubai World Cup Carnival guide: The tracks, trainers, jockeys and horses

What is the Dubai World Cup Carnival?

The Dubai World Cup Carnival is a series of meetings at Meydan racecourse that lead-up to the Duabi World Cup fixture on March 31. There are ten meetings at Meydan held every Thursday, which culminate in Super Saturday on March 10.

There are 61 Thoroughbred races and four for Purebred Arabians with total prize-money of around £8m.

Who is coming?

Potentially runners from at least 15 countries, with early entries coming in from as far afield as Australia, Singapore and Norway for the Carnival at least, with others bound for World Cup night itself due to be added. There is even a Polish Triple Crown winner in Va Bank, now in the care of German trainer Andreas Wohler.

Big names to have been engaged for possible Carnivals starts include the dual Dubai Gold Cup winner and supreme French stayer Vazirabad, Andre Fabre’s top-class middle-distance pair Cloth Of Stars and Talismanic, South African star Whisky Baron and plenty from Britain including Robin Of Navan, Lightning Spear and Sheikhzayedroad as well as a heap from Godolphin’s two trainers Saeed Bin Suroor and Charlie Appleby.

Thunder Snow (pictured) – the Prix Jean Prat winner and last season’s UAE Derby winner, is the star turn on the opening night on Thursday.

Breeders' Cup Mile winner World Approval is reportedly being aimed for the Dubai Turf, with Jamie Osborne’s Toast Of New York a possible for the World Cup after the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park at the end of the month.

The tracks:

It has been difficult to get a real handle on the way the giant venue’s two tracks have been riding through the preliminary meetings this winter and it could pay to just watch the first one or two Carnival fixtures now that larger fields and more truly-run are more probable.

Long-distance travellers often have a culture shock and need a pipe-opener, handing the early advantage to the locals.

The dirt:

After a flirtation with Tapeta when Meydan was opened, the surface was replaced by dirt in 2015.

Generally considered as an attempt to lure back the elite American horses, the sealed track somehow managed to just about hold together even through the deluge of last year’s World Cup meeting when Arrogate (pictured) won the big one.

The dirt, an oval of just under nine furlongs with a couple of chutes, has taken a while to settle in. There have been issues with kickback and a tendency to favour front-runners and this is still often the case, with horses going for broke after the bend two furlongs from home proving hard to catch.

The turf:

The grass course comes into greater use during the Carnival and is fair circuit of a mile and a half with chutes for sprints and mile and a quarter events.

It seems to offer a chance for front-runners as well as those held up from off the pace and while an inside draw is considered more favourable, as it is on the dirt, it is not insurmountable for good horses to win from wider positions.

Unsurprisingly, they apply plenty of water to cope with the desert weather, but it usually rides on the quick side.

The trainers:

The local trainers can be hard to figure out. Satish Seemar, Ahmad bin Harmash, Ali Rashid Al Rayhi and Musabbeh Al Mheiri (now replaced by Maria Ritchie after incurring a ban) all have had varying degrees of success down the years.

American-born Doug Watson is the leading name in day-to-day UAE racing and has quality horses for the Carnival, but it could be hard for him to contain multiple Carnival leading trainer Saeed Bin Suroor (pictured) and fellow Godolphin handler Charlie Appleby once the better racing heats up.

Godolphin boast more than 60 horses for the duration of the ten-week meeting.

There have been only a handful of meetings at the UAE’s flagship facility this winter, but Watson heads the table there this season with 13 winners, seven seconds, and 13 thirds from 80 runners, with Seemar next with six winners.

Salem bin Ghadayer has been in ominous form of late and struck with 40-1 chance Montsarrat, who had no obvious chance at all, at last week’s fixture and is on level pegging with Al Rayhi with four winners there.

The Jockeys:

While Richard Mullen and Tadhg O’Shea have long enjoyed successful winters riding all around the UAE, it is Pat Dobbs who has become the modern-day king of Meydan thanks to the backing of Watson and rarely does a meeting go by without the pair combining for a winner.

He currently heads the standings this season at Meydan with seven winners and 22 of his 32 rides there have finished in the top four.

Last year’s surprise hit was Adrie De Vries, who rode 13 Meydan winners and built up a fine association with Saeed Bin Suroor. The tactically-aware Dutchman has been in action for such as Fawzi Nass and Ismail Mohammed and is worth watching if he starts donning Godolphin blue again.

Jim Crowley is guaranteed some good rides across the board from Hamdan Al Maktoum – he has a fine book of rides including sprinter Ertijaal on the opening night, while Pat Cosgrave, who stayed away for a few seasons after a controversial ban, has returned with a vengeance for a variety of local trainers.

Christophe Soumillion (pictured) is frequently on the premises and has two top rides in Thunder Snow and Noah From Goa on the opening night, but with trainer Mike De Kock set to have a small team this season the Belgian might be forced to focus on quality, rather than quantity, after his record-breaking European season.