|
|
COMMENTARY JANUARY 10, 2013 Dubai racing has evolved into an international melting pot by Kelsey Riley A truly international contingent of horses, trainers and jockeys will congregate at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai Thursday for the first meeting of the 10th annual Dubai World Cup Carnival. The carnival, which was created in 2004 to help grow and promote racing in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, consists of 10 weeks of highly competitive racing that culminates in the $27-million Dubai World Cup card at Meydan -- the richest night of racing in the world -- highlighted by the Group 1, $10 million Dubai World Cup. Carnival racing will take place at Meydan each Thursday from January 10 through February 28 before switching to Saturdays for the final three meetings, including March 9 Super Saturday -- which features the local prep races for the Dubai World Cup, including the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 over 2000 meters and the Group 1 Jebel Hatta over 1800 meters -- and the Dubai World Cup March 30. Healthy purses and state-of-the-art facilities have resulted in full, competitive fields with plenty of international flavor. Last year, the 94 winners at the Dubai World Cup Carnival shipped in from seven different countries. This year, horses from 21 different countries have been accepted to run at the carnival, including 26 Grade or Group 1 winners. Pat Cummings, Editor of DubaiRaceNight.com and Business Manager of Trakus, has been analyzing data from the Dubai World Cup Carnival since 2007, and he said it is unlike any other race meeting in the world. "On the surface, it looks like a very complex meet to follow," Cummings said. "You have horses from six continents, more or less. Nowhere else in the world does that happen." Like most everything else in Dubai, horse racing has not been around long, but it has grown quickly, and it is of the highest quality. Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai and the mastermind of global breeding and racing operations Darley and Godolphin, first organized Thoroughbred races in Dubai in 1981. Ten years later, the Dubai Racing Club (DRC) was established to conduct racing, and a few months later, Nad Al Sheba racecourse opened. In those years, there was strict limitations on the movement of horses in and out of the United Arab Emirates, so in 1993, the Dubai Racing Club compromised by bringing out the world's best jockeys for the inaugural Dubai International Jockeys Challenge, an event that still takes place today. Three years later, in 1996, the Dubai World Cup was born, and it couldn't have been more successful in the eyes of American viewers: reigning U.S. Horse of the Year Cigar took the then $4 million World Cup in a thrilling finish over fellow American compatriots Soul of the Matter and L'Carriere. A lot has changed since that first running of the Dubai World Cup. In 2002, the Dubai World Cup Carnival was instated, and in 2010, the entire show was moved to the freshly constructed Meydan. In between, eight additional American-based horses won the world's richest race: Silver Charm, Captain Steve, Street Cry, Pleasantly Perfect, Roses in May, Invasor, Curlin, and Well Armed. Today, racing in the UAE takes place at four different courses: Meydan and Jebel Ali, a right-handed dirt course, in Dubai; Abu Dhabi Equestrian and Racing Club (turf only) in neighboring Abu Dhabi; and Sharjah Equestrian and Racing Club on the dirt in the Emirate of Sharjah, which is generally restricted to lower rated horses. The racing season in the UAE kicks off in November each year and continues through the end of March. Racing in Dubai is still governed by the Dubai Racing Club, and the rules of racing are enforced by the Emirates Racing Authority, an arm of the latter organization. Ajay Anne, a Dubai-based bloodstock agent who also serves as a steward at Meydan, said the rules of racing in the emirate have an international flavor. "The rules of racing are more European and Australian (than American)," Anne explained. "Earlier, it used to be completely European rules, but now they're trying to mix and match, to keep it more international, like what you'd expect in Hong Kong or Singapore. Here it's a bit different because there's no betting on site, but we do pay attention to the market value and how the odds are going (overseas) more than we did before." Another atypical aspect of racing in Dubai is the handful of locally-based trainers that are employed by the DRC to train the Dubai-based runners. These trainers, who operate their stables out of DRC-owned facilities located at or near Meydan, receive a base salary from the DRC in addition to commissions on race winnings. One such trainer is American Doug Watson. Watson served as assistant to Kiaran McLaughlin when McLaughlin was the private trainer for Sheikh Mohammed in Dubai in the 1990s, and he remained there when McLaughlin returned to New York permanently in 2003. Watson operates a public stable, and Sheikh Mohammed's elder brother, Sheikh Hamdan, is one of his primary clients. "Racing is only here for five months, so they wanted people to stay here and manage all these horses," Anne explained. "The majority of the horses stay here (during the off season)." Americans have not fared as well in Dubai since the carnival was moved to Meydan, which boasts a 1850-meter Tapeta course and a 2400-meter turf course. American shippers have won just one race on the Dubai World Cup card since 2010, when the California-based Kinsale King, trained by Carl O'Callaghan, scooped that year's Group 1 Golden Shaheen. Another California-based runner, Euroears, finished second in that event in 2011, and Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner California Flag finished third in the Al Quoz Sprint on the turf in 2010. Anne said he believes it is an issue of acclimatization, not quality, that has affected the American shippers' performance on the Tapeta. "Ever since they started racing on Tapeta, for some reason the American horses have taken way too long to acclimate, and also perform at the highest level," Anne said. "Look at Game On Dude (unplaced in last year's Dubai World Cup). That's a very good horse. If you took those other horses to Santa Anita to run against him, it would be a different story." Cummings describes both the Meydan Tapeta and turf as "very fair," a great attraction for horseplayers. "I am of the firm belief, and the statistics play it out, that Meydan is a very fair course," Cummings said. "There are no overly pronounced biases, one lane better than another, speed is better than coming from behind, or anything like that. Bettors can go onto the Dubai Racing Club website and access the Trakus data to get a better idea of how a race played out. It really has helped me over the years in finding that horse that went x' number of meters more than someone else. It's a very true surface, both the Tapeta and the turf, for people that want to have a bet." For the horseplayer, there is no doubt that the carnival, with its myriad of nationalities and angles, presents a unique challenge. While there is no betting in Dubai, wagering is available abroad. "It requires a significant deal of effort (to handicap), but it can be very rewarding," Cummings noted. "The average win mutuel is 9-1. It's 10 days of full fields and lots of puzzles, but you're often rewarded." Cummings noted that some of the intricacies of racing in the UAE, such as following ratings, are less familiar to American audiences, so it is important to understand the meaning of these numbers. Coming into the carnival, each horse is assigned a rating by the official Meydan handicapper based on their international performances but, when shipping across the world and preparing to compete for millions of dollars, there are many additional factors that will affect the horse's performance. In addition, Cummings said that weight, reading into the preparation of the horse and finding the pace in the race play a big part in landing on a winner. "I tend to take it from the standpoint that everyone needs to be considered, but if you're looking to break it down, I think it needs to come down to who needs to win and who needs to win now. You have to recognize what horses are coming in completely prepared and what horses are using the carnival as a prep for the World Cup. I think the other thing that gets lost, especially amongst the North Americans, is the ratings. There's a lost awareness that ratings drive how you get into the races, and where you're rated by the handicapper dictates where you end up racing on World Cup night. So sometimes trainers need to ask more of their horses if they want a chance to run for the biggest purses in the world. So the person that's observing the carnival or having a bet needs to recognize, do I think this trainer needs to have his horse in peak condition to win, or is it truly a prep for a later race?' It gets to be a cluster of quality, and discerning the small incremental differences between the horses (is difficult). There's so much nuance, that while it presents a lot of challenges to the horseplayers, it makes it all the more fun." Cummings said there has been increased interest in the carnival amongst horsemen in recent years, especially Europeans. "I think more horsemen, especially from the UK, realize the purse money may not be as great if they stay home and run on the all-weather at Wolverhampton or something," Cummings said. "They might not necessarily have to win at Meydan to walk away with some prize money. In some cases, if you run even third in a handicap during the carnival at Meydan, that's better than maybe winning three or four races in the winter in the UK. It makes it well worth it." Anne has been based in Dubai since 2006, and his business includes purchasing horses to run at the Dubai World Cup Carnival. He noted that, because the racing season is relatively short, it is important to select horses that are tough and durable. "A consistent and sound horse is what is needed," he said. "You can't have a horse that is soft or needs time and this and that. This is what I would look for: he needs to be bold, consistent, and sound." Anne said he may look for a horse that is progressing in its rating, but he prefers to look for talented runners that may have slipped through the cracks. "You could buy a horse that is rated from 85-95 if you think he may go up to 105, but that can be dangerous," he said. "He might have already hit his peak, and those horses are very expensive. So, sometimes the better option for me is to look at a horse that was 112, and he's still young and had a few bad runs and is now rated 102. He may not be the flavor of the month, but he's talented and he could turn around with a bit of time or change of trainer." Last year, Anne purchased a horse of that profile, Planteur, for a client to run in the Dubai World Cup. "Planteur was extremely talented and he'd beaten some of the best horses in France, including Sarafina and Cirrus des Aigles, but he had two bad runs and people just forgot about him. Those I think, personally, are the ones to look for." Planteur finished third in the World Cup -- a cool $1,040,068 payday -- and is set to target the race again this year. Anne also noted that tried horses from larger operations can be a good source of carnival horses, as well as buying at horses in training sales. He said that Europe is the best source of carnival horses, but competition for those horses from Australia and Hong Kong are increasing. "I think the carnival horses have been stolen by the Aussies and the Asians more than you can think," he said. "I don't think the demand from this part of the world has increased as much as it should. There was a time when everyone said, this is a Dubai racing prospect, but now they promote it as a Melbourne Cup prospect or a Hong Kong prospect. Then it becomes a Dubai prospect. But as far as people wanting to bring a horse to Dubai, it's still very popular, but the horse market has certainly been affected." This increased demand for horses in international markets has not stopped a truly global cast from descending upon Meydan for the carnival, and 2013 will be no different. One of the most familiar -- and successful -- faces at the carnival each year is Mike de Kock, and, after bringing abbreviated strings the past two years because of quarantine restricted caused by an outbreak of African Horse Sickness, de Kock is back with a dynamic group this year. Leading the cast is South African Horse of the Year Igugu, who owns 10 wins from 12 starts. She has journeyed from South Africa with last year's two-year-old champion Soft Falling Rain and turf sprinter Shea Shea, a two-time Group 1 winner in his home country. "As excited as I am to see Igugu run outside South Africa, I think some of the other horses that he brings in are going to be as interesting to watch," Cummings said. "I'm very interested to see Shea Shea run. Mike hasn't had a turf sprinter there since he campaigned J J the Jet Plane (Al Quoz Sprint winner in 2009 for de Kock and in 2010 for trainer Lucky Houdalakis) back in 2009, and I think that's going to be an exciting development. (Shea Shea) has competed against some horses that did well here last year, like August Rush, who was third in the Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint and a pretty close fifth in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint." De Kock also brings a handful of European Group performers that have been purchased or leased from Coolmore interests, including Await the Dawn, David Livingston, Treasure Beach, and Daddy Long Legs. Another highly anticipated import this year will be Indian filly In the Spotlight, a multiple classic-winner in her native India. Because horses from India rarely leave the country, punters will be interested to see how she performs in her Dubai debut, which is set for January 17. "She hasn't done anything wrong in India so far," said Anne, a native of India himself. "You can't knock her on the Indian form at all. She's rated at 102, so it will be very interesting to see what she does. She's working well and she looks well." Amidst all the international invaders will be Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin blue, which should feature prominently in almost every race throughout the carnival. Each year, Godolphin selects a variety of high quality horses from its operations in Europe, America, and Australia to compete in Dubai. Godolphin is represented in all six of Thursday's races, and its entrants include last year's Grade 3 Sham winner Out of Bounds in the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1, and Grade 1-placed Arthur's Tale in a 1900-meter Tapeta handicap. It is also worth noting that for the first time ever, Frankie Dettori will not be riding at the Dubai World Cup Carnival. The former Godolphin number one was recently slapped with a six-month suspension for testing positive for a prohibited substance shortly after resigning from his Godolphin position in the fall. Whatever way you look at it, each race in the Dubai World Cup Carnival is bound to be loaded with quality, international flavor, and plenty of puzzles for the astute horseplayer. HRTV will show the races live from Meydan beginning at 10 a.m. (EST).
 Send this article to a friend
|
|
