Dubai World Cup nominees include Animal Kingdom, Royal Delta

Dubai World Cup nominees include Animal Kingdom, Royal

Delta

Defending champion Monterosso heads a star-studded list of nominations for

the Group 1, $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 30, which also includes

champion Animal Kingdom, multiple Grade 1 winner Dullahan, and the star South

African mare Igugu.

The 18th running of the world's richest race has attracted 272 nominees from

11 countries at closing of the free nominations. Among them are 184 from the the

United Arab Emirates, 27 from the United States, 18 from South Africa, 11 from

Japan, seven from Great Britain, four from Hong Kong and two from Singapore.

Among those from the U.S. is the two-time champion mare Royal Delta, who

finished ninth in last year's World Cup.

The Dale Romans-trained duo, Dullahan and Little Mike, have also been

nominated and are expected to have runs on the March 9 Super Saturday card en

route to Dubai World Cup Day. Like many Dubai World Cup nominated horses, both

also hold nominations for the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free and the Group 1 Dubai

Sheema Classic.

Following on from the memorable victory of Victoire Pisa in 2011, there is

strong Japanese representation in the Dubai World Cup Day nominations, headed by

four-time Grade 1 winner Gentildonna in the Sheema Classic, and high-class

sprinter Lord Kanaloa, who holds a nomination for the Group 1 Dubai Golden

Shaheen, the third leg of the 2013 Global Sprint Challenge.

Igugu, Mike de Kock's highly-anticipated champion mare, is one of 18 Dubai

World Cup nominations from the South African. She has also been nominated for

the Duty Free, which has attracted 304 nominations, and the Sheema Classic,

which has 266 nominations, including 2011 Group 1 Melbourne Cup and 2012 Group 1

Caulfield Cup winner Dunaden.

Also in the Dubai World Cup running from the South African's stable are a

number of Ballydoyle graduates including 2012 Group 1 Jebel Hatta winner and

World Cup eighth, Masterofhounds; Group 2 Hardwicke winner Await The Dawn; 

Group 2 winner David Livingston; multiple Grade/Group 1 winner Treasure Beach;

and multiple Group 2 winner Daddy Long Legs.

Argentinean Group 1 and Grade 2 Breeders' Cup Marathon winner Calidoscopio,

trained by Guillermo Frenkel, holds nominations for the World Cup and the Group

3 Dubai Gold Cup. Indian filly In the Spotlight has also been handed a Gold Cup

nomination.

A number of familiar names have once again been nominated to the nine-race

card which represents the most valuable day of horse racing in the world.

Dubai World Cup Carnival star, Barbecue Eddie, trained by Doug Watson, who

has now won four on the bounce, has been nominated to the Group 2 Godolphin

Mile, a race that he had to be withdrawn from in 2012 after suffering a fever in

the preceding days.

"In 2002 we had 87 horses nominated for the Dubai World Cup at the free

nominations stage, this year we have 272," said Martin Talty, International

Managerof the Dubai Racing Club. "The nominations shouldn't be used as an

assessment of the quality of the ultimate field, but the large increases over

the years do serve to demonstrate the status that this flagship race, and indeed

all the races on the Dubai World Cup day, has attained all over the world.

"A total of 23 countries are represented in these nominations for our program

of six Group 1 races, two Group 2s and one Group 3 outing worth a combined

$27,250,000 in prize money. I look forward to following the progress of all the

nominated horses as we draw nearer to the big day on March 30."

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