American Cinderella story Senor Buscador returns to the international stage Saturday in the $12 million Dubai World Cup, drawing post 10 of 12 at today’s ceremony in the UAE. The horse from humble beginnings already has bagged the $20 million Saudi Cup on his current road trip and looks for a historic sweep.
Senor Buscador meets a cast that includes rematched Japanese stars Ushba Tesoro (post 5), the defending Dubai World Cup winner and Saudi Cup runner-up, and Derma Sotogake (post 8), last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up and blowout winner of the UAE Derby on this very undercard. Ushba Tesoro (pictured above) can join 2018-’19 winner Thunder Snow as the only two-time winners of the DWC.
Horseplayers betting all of Saturday’s races from Meydan in Dubai with 1/ST BET and Xpressbet can enjoy up to a $10 money-back special on win bets that finish second or third.
The Dubai World Cup is significantly different than the Saudi Cup in that this will be a two-turn race and a full furlong farther (220 yards) in distance. The pace figures to be more controlled over this trip than in Saudi, where Senor Buscador’s late kick was on display.
America’s Dubai World Cup interests extend beyond the Todd Fincher protege Senor Buscador. Five others in the field have raced domestically at some point in their careers, including the Bob Baffert-trained Newgate (post 6), recent winner of the Santa Anita Handicap. Baffert has won this race 4 times, most recently Country Grammer in 2022. Todd Pletcher sends Pegasus World Cup third-place finisher Crupi (post 1), while Chad Summers adds Lukas Classic winner and Pimlico Special third-place finisher Clapton (post 7).
Ex-patriated US runners in the DWC include Santa Anita’s Awesome Again and Hollywood Gold Cup winner Defunded (post 9) and Del Mar’s Pat O’Brien winner Laurel River (far outside post 12). Both now compete for Middle Eastern connections.
A spectacular undercard includes Breeders’ Cup Turf winners Auguste Rodin and Rebel’s Romance among 10 different Group 1 winners in the $6 million Dubai Sheema Classic (Race 8); America’s defending champ Sibelius in the $2 Dubai Golden Shaheen for sprinters (Race 6); veteran US turfer Casa Creed in the Al Quoz Turf Sprint (Race 4); and Japanese unbeaten Kentucky Derby hopeful Forever Young in the $1 million UAE Derby (Race 5).
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$12 million Group 1 Dubai World Cup // Saturday // Meydan Racecourse // Post Time 12:35 pm ET US // Race 9
1 (7) Clapton (Chad Summers // Dylan Davis)
2 (1) Crupi (Todd Pletcher // Luis Saez)
3 (9) Defunded (Abdulaziz K Mishriff // Abel Al Furyadi)
4 (8) Derma Sotogake (Hidetaka Otonashi // Christophe Lemaire)
5 (3) Dura Erede (Manabu Ikezoe // Bauyrzhan Murzabayev)
6 (2) Kabirkhan (Doug Watson // Pat Dobbs)
7 (12) Laurel River (Bhupat Seemar // Tadhg O’Shea)
8 (4) Military Law (Musabbeh Almheiri // Oscar Chavez)
9 (6) Newgate (Bob Baffert // Frankie Dettori)
10 (10) Senor Buscador (Todd Fincher // Junior Alvarado)
11 (5) Ushba Tesoro (Noboru Takagi // Yuga Kawada)
12 (11) Wilson Tesoro (Hitoshi Kotegawa // Yusuke Hara)
** Note ** Betting numbers and post positions do not match. Post positions are listed in parentheses
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Race Schedule (all times US ET):
7:30 am | Race 1 | Group 1 Dubai Kahayla Classic (Arabians)
8:05 am | Race 2 | Group 2 Godolphin Mile
8:40 am | Race 3 | Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup
9:15 am | Race 4 | Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint
9:50 am | Race 5 | Group 2 UAE Derby
10:25 am | Race 6 | Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen
11:10 am | Race 7 | Group 1 Dubai Turf
12:00 pm | Race 8 | Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic
12:35 pm| Race 9 | Group 1 Dubai World Cup
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