No fewer than 19 Dubai Racing Carnival and Dubai World Cup day runners will line up at the Breeders’ Cup meeting, which takes place on Friday and Saturday November in Del Mar, California.
The feature race is the $7million Gr1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, in which the 2023 Dubai World Cup winner, Ushba Tesoro, takes on the last two winners of the Gr2 UAE Derby; Derma Sotogake and Forever Young.
The trio, all trained in Japan, will aim to be the first winner of this race for their country, although Derma Sotogake went close last year, finishing second to White Abarrio, with Ushba Tesoro fifth.
For Forever Young, this race is a chance to avenge his only career defeat, when an unlucky third in the Kentucky Derby on his previous trip to the States.
“He has a difficult draw in stall one, but he is in much better form compared to how he was back in May,” said trainer Yoshito Yahagi. “He is a different horse I would say.”
Ushba Tesoro’s trainer Noboru Takagi is keen on consistency for the popular seven-year-old, despite him managing to unship his rider on Monday morning.
“He is in good form,” said the trainer. “There is nothing significantly different from last year. He is not straightforward, but we are trying to get along with it.”
Joining the Japanese contingent in the feature are two trained in the US; Senor Buscador, third in the Dubai World Cup, and Newgate, ninth.
Trained by Todd Fincher, Saudi Cup winner Senor Buscador is just one win from five starts at Del Mar, but connections were happy with his fourth in the G2 Pat O’Brien here in August.
“He ran good in the Pat O’Brien,” Fincher said. “It was a speed-biased track. They went a slower pace and they zinged home. I wasn’t disappointed as his gallop-out was huge.
“His Santa Anita race [G1 California Crown] was terrible,” Fincher added. “That wasn’t the first time he ran bad there. We’re going to throw that last race out.”
The Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf, the second biggest purse of the meeting at $5million, has attracted a real star in Rebel’s Romance. Winner of this race at Keeneland in 2022, Charlie Appleby’s gelding added the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic to his CV in March.
“He goes there in great shape and has been solid throughout the year; campaigning at the highest level,” said the trainer.
“I was delighted with his last start in Germany [Gr1 Preis Von Europa], which we’ve used as springboard before to the Breeders’ Cup. We’re very confident he’ll put up another good performance.”
Rebel’s Romance’s rivals include 2022 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic winner Shahryar, for whom this is likely to be a final start.
Trained by Hideaki Fujiwara, the six-year-old was an unlucky third in this race last year, before chasing home Rebel’s Romance in Dubai. The other Dubai graduates in the race are the John and Thady Gosden-trained Emily Upjohn, fifth in the Sheema Classic, and Aidan O’Brien’s multiple G1 winner Luxembourg.
Saturday’s action begins with the Gr1 Filly and Mare Sprint, over 1400 metres on dirt, in which Frost At Dawn is an intriguing runner for British trainer William Knight and Emirati owner Abdulla Al Mansoori. The three-year-old Frosted filly finished second on dirt at Meydan, prior to winning the Gr3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint on turf.
“She’s settled out here really well,” said Knight. “She was second on the dirt at Meydan and she’s bred to be a dirt horse, so I’m not worried about the surface.
“My only question mark would be the distance of seven furlongs [1400m] and are we stretching her, stamina-wise?”
Frost At Dawn beat Star Of Mystery in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint, and the lively Appleby-trained filly lines up in the Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, over 1000metres.
“Star Of Mystery has done well against the older horses and the colts,” said Appleby. “She was probably a bit unlucky in running on her latest start at Keeneland. Hopefully she can be a live player around there.”
Starlust, placed on both his Meydan starts, also lines up in the Turf Sprint, and will be ridden by Rossa Ryan.
Appleby won the Gr1 Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar with Wuheida in 2017 and he runs two Meydan stars in the race this time. Cinderella’s Dream, a US Grade I scorer since winning the Listed Jumeirah Guineas, is backed up by Beautiful Love, winner of a Carnival Conditions race.
“Beautiful Love is a filly that we know will see the trip out well, and obviously [USA] experience under her belt will be a positive,” said the trainer. Cinderella’s Dream is a Gr1 winner and a Gr2 winner on her last start at Saratoga.
“She unfortunately missed her intended last start at Woodbine and we contemplated running her in the QEII [at Keeneland] but we thought she’d be a better filly going into the Breeders’ Cup fresh. Her work’s been good and she’s going to be a live player around there, with her experience and the level that she’s running to.”
The Sprint, over 1200 metres on dirt, is something of a Dubai Golden Shaheen rematch as Don Frankie, Nakatomi and Remake, second, third and fourth, respectively, behind Tuz, clash again.
“The US is the fourth country for him to travel,” said a stable representative for trainer Koichi Shintani, about Remake, who won in Saudi Arabia and Korea as well as his good Dubai effort. “He is very relaxed; it’s his strong point.”
The Breeders’ Cup Mile, run over 1600metres on turf, features a Dubai alumnus in Geoglyph, who ran in the 2023 Dubai World Cup, while Saudi Crown, who started favourite for this year’s Gr2 Godolphin Mile, takes his chance in the Gr1 Dirt Mile.