The 19th running of the world’s richest day in horse racing takes place on Saturday, March 29 with the 2014 Dubai World Cup, live on Channel 4 and Sky Sports.
Sixteen horses from around the world, led by last year’s winner of the Epsom Derby – Ruler of the World – are expected to enter the starting gate to contest Saturday’s $10 million spectacular, with an incredible total prize fund of $27.25 million across a nine-race card.
It brings an end to the three-month long Dubai World Cup Carnival, a festival of international racing with total prize money of more than $36m over 11 race meetings since January.
For the flat racing connoisseur, it is the day that has everything with three of the nine races on World Cup Day accounting for the majority of the money and prestige on offer – the Dubai Sheema Classic, the Dubai Duty Free and Dubai World Cup itself.
In keeping with the the luxurious surroundings of Dubai, no expense will be spared to keep the expected 80,000 crowd entertained, but organisers may have to go some way to beat last year’s effort.
The visual and aural spectacular is sure to bring the atmosphere to a fever-pitch in good time for the evening’s main events.
Sixteen runners, including nine Group One winners, from eight countries will compete for the prized golden trophy in front of an expectant crowd in what connections see as an open contest for the Dubai World Cup itself.
However, no American horses are participating this year despite Animal Kingdom’s success in 2013.
Four-year-old colt Ruler Of The World, last year’s Epsom Derby winner, has been installed as favourite to win Saturday’s $10 million Dubai World Cup.
In October, the Aidan O’Brien-trained horse was beaten by Farhh and Cirrus des Aigles in the Champion Stakes at Ascot after challenging late in a thrilling three-way finish.
However, the Irish-bred son of Galileo was made 4-1 favourite for the 19th running of the 2,000 metre Dubai World Cup despite returning from a five-month lay-off and the fact that it will be his first run on a synthetic tapeta surface.
The Hong Kong-trained runners such as Irish-bred Military Attack, who won the Hong Kong Gold Cup by three lengths in a blazing finish last month for the second year in a row, may have an edge in Meydan.
Veteran eight-year old Red Cadeaux is set to make another bid for the World Cup on Saturday after losing by two lengths to Animal Kingdom last year.
However, the November Melbourne Cup runner-up is regarded as an outsider at 25-1 this time.
Channel 4 will screen a special programme featuring live free-to-air coverage of the world-famous Dubai World Cup, plus highlights of the other key races on a bumper card as the flat racing season begins in style.
The Morning Line at 8.00am, presented by Nick Luck, with feature the news, features, betting and tips ahead of the Dubai World Cup itself, with guests in Dubai including Richard Fahey, David Simcock, William Haggas, Marwan Koukash and AP McCoy.
Plus, theres a look ahead to Channel 4’s other live racing coverage from Doncaster and Kempton Park, which features the Lincoln Handicap, the one mile cavalry charge that traditionally rings in the new flat season.
At 1.40pm, Channel 4 Racing’s usual Saturday afternoon programme features seven races from Doncaster and Kempton, with the main presenting team based at Town Moor, Doncaster.
Selected races from the Meydan card will be broadcast during the programme, which will also feature the latest news ahead of the spectacular feature race.
Then at 5.50pm, Channel 4 begins its build-up to the world’s richest horse race with Nick Luck introducing the action alongside studio analysts Graham Cunningham and Jim McGrath, plus Tanya Stevenson has the betting news.
The programme also features the best of the rest of the action on a fabulous night of racing, while Emma Spencer will be trackside in Meydan with the latest reports and interviews ahead of the $10m race which goes off at 6.05pm.
If you miss any of the action on a packed day of racing, each Channel 4 Racing programme will be available to watch on 4OD shortly after transmission.
Live streaming will also be available via Channel 4 online, while the Channel 4 Racing website has further statistics and information.
Sky Sports will feature all eight races in a five-and-a-half hour live broadcast the world-famous Dubai World Cup card at Meydan.
Richard Hoiles presents the world feed coverage of the event where he will be joined by a variety of guests to assess the runners and the stories behind each race.
Further analysis and on-course reports come from J A McGrath, Rishi Persad, Scott Hazelton and Caton Bredar, while Terry Spargo leads the race commentary.
Along with grand finale – the Dubai World Cup at 6.05pm – the day’s other feature races also include the Dubai Duty Free, the Dubai Gold Cup and the Dubai Sheema Classic.
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1:45 Dubai Gold Cup
2:25 UAE Derby
3:05 Al Quoz Sprint
3:40 Dubai Golden Shaheen
4:40 Dubai Duty Free
5:15 Dubai Sheema Classic
6:05 Dubai World Cup
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