Meydan Racecourse Grandstand (Photo via Dubai Racing Club Media Centre)
Only four days till Dubai World Cup Saturday: racing’s richest program with more than $27 million at stake. Two U.S. horses, 2011 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic winner Royal Delta and 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up Game On Dude, have flown overseas to challenge international contenders in Meydan Racecourse’s $10 million World Cup. Six million dollars in purse money goes to the victor. [Blood-Horse]
Meydan boasts a pretty spectacular grandstand, 2,400 meter turf and 1,750 meter synthetic tracks, the world’s first 285-room, 5-star trackside hotel and 72 corporate entertainment suites. Must be a sight to behold. [Racing Club Gallery]
Bob Baffert, multiple Kentucky Derby-winning trainer of Game On Dude, is now recovering in a Dubai hospital after suffering a heart attack Monday morning. Trainer Tim Yakteen, a former assistant of Baffert’s, will oversee Game On Dude’s preparations. [DRF]
Meanwhile Game On Dude’s jockey Chantal Sutherland, the first woman to ride in the Dubai World Cup, is looking to make additional history as the first woman to win it. [GulfNews]
On the subject of winners, World and European eventing champion Michael Jung led Germany to first-leg victory in the FEI Nations Cup at Fontainebleau (France) last weekend. Jung took first, second and fourth places aboard Leopin, La Biosthetique-Sam and Weidezaunprofi’s River Of Joy, respectively. Who likes Leopin’s odds for Badminton? [FEI]
RIP Mrs Tilly: Caroline Powell’s 11-year-old four-star mare has been put down after complications from a suspected case of encephalitis. Together Powell and Mrs Tilly placed in the top 15 at Luhm
