Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Ushba Tesoro, Senor Buscador top 12-horse Dubai World Cup
From Japan to New Mexico to the steppes of Kazakhstan, they’re putting the “World” into the Dubai World Cup this year.
Drawn Wednesday, a dozen horses whose lives span the globe – among them 2023 World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro and Senor Buscador, who beat Ushba Tesoro last month in the $20 million Saudi Cup – were entered in the Group 1, $12 million World Cup, contested Saturday at Meydan Racecourse over 1 1/4 miles.
Japan-based Ushba Tesoro a year ago went last to first beating 14 rivals and rates the most likely World Cup winner again this season. The 7-year-old drew well in post 5. Santa Anita, with its short homestretch, didn’t suit late-running Ushba Tesoro when he finished fifth last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. From the look of the Saudi Cup, though, he’s the same horse now as a year ago, and stands to run better at Meydan than in the one-turn, 1,800-meter Saudi Cup, where Senor Buscador nipped him on the wire.
Senor Buscador was bred and is owned by the Peacock family of New Mexico. Owner Joe Peacock Jr. made a deal before the Saudi Cup for Senor Buscador to race in the name and silks of Sharaf Al Hariri, a Saudi national, in the Saudi Cup and in Dubai. Both parties are listed as owners, but Al Hariri has only a superficial, temporary association.
Senor Buscador ran the race of his life in Saudi Arabia. Another closer, it remains to be seen if he can be equally effective at 1 1/4 miles around two turns, and the evidence to date suggests he cannot. Senor Buscador, the mount of Junior Alvarado, drew post 11, less than ideal.
Three other Japan-based horses were entered, BC Classic runner-up Derma Sotogake (post 8) with a plausible win chance, Dura Erede (post 3) and Wilson Tesoro (post 11) less so. The other Americans, Newgate and Crupi, also are outsiders.
Newgate, winner of the Santa Anita Handicap, breaks from post 6, Frankie Dettori riding for Bob Baffert, the same combination that won the 2022 World Cup with Country Grammer. Crupi (post 1, Luis Saez), is an improving 4-year-old who so far has done little suggesting he can contend.
Laurel River returned from a 17-month layoff with a modest sprint performance two months ago in his first start since being exported from America. Stretched to a one-turn mile with blinkers added, Laurel River scored a smashing 6 3/4-length win March 2 in the Burj Nahaar. He’s a major World Cup pace player and the strongest local chance.
Kabirkhan, with owners from Kazakhstan and a career that began at Russian racetracks, wins the race for the World Cup’s best story, and two excellent performances this winter in Dubai hint that the 4-year-old California Chrome colt is not merely a curiosity.
The major Group 1 turf races, the $6 million Sheema Classic over 1 1/2 miles and the $5 million Dubai Turf over 1 1/8 miles, are excellent. The Sheema includes the last two Breeders’ Cup Turf winners, Auguste Rodin and Rebel’s Romance; strong Japanese horses Liberty Island, Stars on Earth, and Shahryar; and the England-based Group 1-winning mare Emily Upjohn.
Eight-year-old Lord North won the Dubai Turf outright in 2021 and 2023, dead-heated for win in 2022, and is back seeking a four-peat. He’ll be joined in the starting gate by his John and Thady Gosden-trained stablemate Nashwa, with Do Deuce and Danon Beluga leading chances from Japan.
Measured Time is a rising Godolphin 4-year-old, while the American horse Catnip was flattered by I’m Very Busy, who edged him for second in the Pegasus World Cup Turf and won last weekend’s Muniz Memorial in a rout.
The remarkable Casa Creed can do better than his fifth-place finish his previous start in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint. A modest renewal of the Golden Shaheen, a dirt sprint, drew 14, including 2023 winner Sibelius, who might be usurped by another American, Run Classic. And in the UAE Derby, a major qualifier for the Kentucky Derby, Japan-based Forever Young must overcome post 11 if he’s going to make it to Churchill Downs.