The 2024 Dubai World Cup: Four things we learnt from the draw

There truly is nothing like being drawn at home in the FA Cup and Ushba Tesoro’s connections enjoyed a similar feeling at the glittering Dubai World Cup draw as he was the first horse drawn out of the hat. 

Connections therefore had the best chance possible of securing a nice position for the defending champion and they will have been pleased to have landed stall five in Saturday’s $12 million feature and stall five looks a perfect position. 

The seven-year-old has reportedly come out of his Saudi Cup second in fine fettle and is primed to go close as he attempts to emulate the great Thunder Snow as a two-time winner of the race. 

In this very column last year, I waxed lyrical over the Japanese hype surrounding Equinox. He proved that hype to be fully justified with a sumptuous display in the Sheema Classic. However, this time around I am not feeling the same vibes from the Japanese media surrounding hot favourite Liberty Island for the corresponding race. Whilst she is undoubtedly an outstanding talent taking on the boys, she looks vulnerable, particularly with regards to Auguste Rodin. who has been the apple of the media’s eye this week. 

His preparation has gone well according to connections and given his win at the Breeders’ Cup, he could well be made for a track like Meydan. I think he’ll be tough to beat. 

William Knight has an exciting sprinter on his hands in the shape of Frost At Dawn and she is bidding to become the first three-year-old to win the G1 Al Quoz Sprint. She broke the five-furlong track record when a surprise 33/1 winner at Meydan in March, but there was no fluke about that performance from stall 3. 

Ironically, she has the same draw for the six-furlong event and whilst she has to prove as effective over the six-furlong trip at Meydan, she is a hugely exciting prospect and can serve it up to arguably Hong Kong’s best chance of a winner on the night, California Spangle. 

If you can find it on YouTube or on social media, Kabirkhan’s debut win back in July 2023 at Pyatigorsk is well worth a watch. At a track which could harshly be described as a bog, he slammed a couple of rivals and now under a year later finds himself chasing a $12 million purse in the Dubai World Cup. 

Plenty of shrewdies fancy his chances, including Racing TV’s very own Rishi Persad and he looks to have a nice draw in stall 2. There was style along with the substance of his win in the Al Maktoum Challenge last time out. He looks versatile tactically and he is certainly not one to dismiss in the feature.