Gitano Hernando (right): could be open to the most improvement

  PICTURE: Mark Cranham  

No champion but World Cup thick with talent

WORLD CLASS: an analysis of the best performances of last week according toRacing Post Ratings

TOP OF THE CLASS: Mr Medici 120

Trainer: Peter Ho (HK)

Premier Plate, Sha Tin, 1m1f, March 21

MEYDAN, Dubai's spectacular new mega-course, has been heralded as the ultimate horse-racing experience, but as it takes up hosting duties for the world's richest-ever race this weekend, the management could be forgiven for feeling a shade disappointed at the turnout.

At its former venue, Nad Al Sheba, the Dubai World Cup consistently set the early benchmark for the season. Occasionally, as with Dubai Millennium and Invasor, the winner went on to finish the year as world champion according to official ratings.

But that outcome looks most unlikely this year in what is to be the World Cup’s 15th running, the first on the Tapeta at Meydan. After spending a reputed $1.25 billion on developing the lavish new racecourse and grandstand, the day which should announce its glittering arrival on the world stage seems to be lacking an equine star who can truly live up to the occasion.

None of last year's elite performers are scheduled to appear in the main event. With a peak Racing Post Rating of 127 among the expected runners, whoever does come out on top may struggle to match the list of recent World Cup winners, who have achieved an average RPR of 129.

What is more, with Quality Road (128) having already laid down a serious marker Stateside, this could be the first year since 2001 that the Dubai World Cup winner has not jumped straight to the head of the world standings.

To be fair, it is not that the track has failed to attract the best horses to their grand event, as almost everything that could run on Saturday looks set to run. It seems more a case of rotten luck that none of last year's superstars have flown in for racing's biggest prize.

The no-shows from last year's top list include: Sea The Stars, Company, Conduit and Vodka (all retired), Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra, who were both being prepared for a match-up in the Apple Blossom, Well Armed (recovering from illness), Summer Bird (recovering from injury) and Goldikova (doesn't stay 1m2f).

In addition, the Aidan O'Brien-trained pairing of Rip Van Winkle and Fame And Glory have not made the trip according to the usual Ballydoyle policy with regards to Dubai.
Quality Road might have made a nice addition to the World Cup line-up, but connections are probably looking to secure a major domestic title with him thisterm and may want to keep their powder dry.

So, enough about the non-runners, just what is set to line up? Well, there are the Breeders' Cup Classic-placers Gio Ponti (127) and Twice Over (125), Group 1 globetrotter Vision D'Etat (124), synthetics specialists Richard's Kid (122) and Gitano Hernando (122) and Japan's leading dirt performer Gio Ponti (123).

While there is no champion present, the race is thick with Group 1 talent. There is precious little between most of them on their best figures and, as the betting suggests, the race looks wide open.

The progressive Gitano Hernando is possibly the one open to most improvement, although he still has 5lb to find with standard-bearer Gio Ponti if that one can run to his Breeders' Cup best.

As far as the future of the Dubai Carnival is concerned, the switch to the Tapeta racing surface at Meydan is certain to have one or two implications on some of the key races.

As an intermediate surface, pitched somewhere between dirt and turf, the Tapeta should really entice more turf performers to tackle the big all-weather prizes like the Dubai World Cup.
In the past every turf horse to land the Dubai World Cup had been connected to Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed in some way or other, but on Tapeta more of the top European turf horses are likely to take their chance, like Twice Over and Vision D'Etat this year.

On the flip side, the switch to Tapeta is likely to put off some of the American dirt specialists – nowhere is this more apparent than the Golden Shaheen. On dirt, America had been the dominant force in both this sprint and the World Cup, but with some owners and trainers strongly against the use of synthetics track, their presence will be scaled back. Only one US-trained horse, Kinsale King, will run in the Golden Shaheen.

Another negative impact of the new surface will be its affect on the strength of the Dubai Duty Free. The 1m1f contest used to beseen as the turf equivalent of the Dubai World Cup, but it now looks set to compete directly for the same group of turf horses. Presvis, for example, was a liely World Cup runner until being switched back here.

One way of establishingsome difference between the two events would be to change the distance of the Duty Free, but dropping it to 1m is out of the question, as they also have the Godolphin Mile on Tapeta on the same card. If no changes are made, the Duty Free could end up becoming a consolation World Cup, like it was in the early years of the meeting when it was run on the old dirt surface at Nad Al Sheba.

Only time will tell how the Dubai Carnival works around the new surface and the decision to install Tapeta was not taken purely to establish the best-quality fields. It was a move to satisfy the majority, to provide a safer and less taxing running surface, and, as a pleasing side note, the form should be much easier to read and assess than it was at Nad Al Sheba, as the racing is much more reflective of European turf racing.

World Class has decided to move with the times in this period of expansion for all-weather racing and we will now carry RPR top-ten lists for the best horses in three different categories every week on the Racing Post website, racingpost.com, and at regular intervals in the paper.

The turf list remains as it always was, but the dirt/AW list will be split into its component parts, with the new dirt list covering all races on conventional dirt and the all-weather list covering races on the synthetic tracks, like Polytrack, Pro-Ride and Tapeta.

At present Quality Road tops the dirt list, as well asthe overall standings with a mark of 128, while Zenyatta (124) heads the all-weather list after her cosy comeback success.

There is a four-way tie in the turf standings, with Hong Kong pair Sacred Kingdom and Collection sharing the lead with Presious Passion and Presvis, all on marks of 122.

By the way, former Irish-trained Mr Medici came out top of the global class this week with an RPR of 120 for his huge weight-carrying performance in the Premier Plate (Handicap) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

It was the third career best RPR in a row for the improving five-year-old, who finished third behind Collection and Thumbs Up in last month's Hong Kong Gold Cup.

D = dirt; A = all-weather; T= turf

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