An undercard to outshine even racing's biggest and brightest star

If JUMP racing’s Olympics were last week, then it’s the turn of Usain Bolt today, with Arrogate – the horse his illustrious trainer Bob Baffert has described as the dirt version of Frankel – the headline act in the Dubai World Cup.

But for European fans this could be the equine equivalent of Super Saturday at London 2012 when Bolt’s parade through an uncompetitive heat was overshadowed by a gold glut led by Farah, Ennis and Rutherford. So packed with stars is Meydan’s undercard it could rival Hydra as earth’s largest visible constellation.

So what exactly is there to get excited about?

The best mile-and-a-half race before the Arc

It may not be until the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – on the first Sunday in October – we see a mile-and-a-half race filled with as many heavyweights as the Sheema Classic. As John Gosden noted, his Irish Derby winner Jack Hobbs is rated 120 and yet is the fourth-highest- rated in the field.

Roger Varian’s four-time Group 1 winner Postponed, last season’s dominant middle-distance horse until the wheels came off in the Arc, was odds-on for this last year but is available at 2-1 this time around because Coolmore and Godolphin have thrown everything at him, namely the winners of seven Group/Grade 1s and Prize Money, the horse who beat him in his prep 21 days ago.

That reappearance was rated 6lb inferior on Racing Post Ratings to last year’s effort in the same race, and in Highland Reel, who has more grains of grit in him than the Dubai desert, and Seventh Heaven – she who made Arc heroine Found look ordinary in the Yorkshire Oaks and gets 6lb here – he faces two horses who would give him a race even if at his very best.

The two powerhouses of British and Irish racing are also strongly represented in the Dubai Turf, where Godolphin’s Ribchester steps up to 1m1f against a Coolmore triumvirate in a race that also features William Haggas’s Mutakayyef, Roger Charlton’s Decorated Knight and Alain de Royer-Dupre’s Zarek – already tagged a Group 1 winner in waiting. The firms also go head-to-head in the UAE Derby with Lancaster Bomber taking on Thunder Snow in a race that features Japan’s unbeaten Epicharis and America’s Master Plan.

Can Limato match Ertijaal's speed in the Sprint?

If Henry Candy could handpick race conditions for his stable star it would be a lightning fast pace to aim at on rattling fast ground over a straight six furlongs.

While Friday’s deluge may have compromised a clean sweep, in Ertijaal Limato faces the horse who could make or break him. Ertijaal is the track record-holder at Meydan over five furlongs and six, goes like stink and does not stop, so Limato will have to be at his very best to live with him.

The race will be set up perfectly for Harry Bentley to weave his way through, but many have thought that in Ertijaal’s last seven starts and just one horse has been able to get to him – but by way of encouragement that was Buffering in this race last year. If Limato is able to live with the Dubai juggernaut he could just do something very special.

A cornucopia of super stayers

Last year’s winner? Check. Goodwood Cup winner? Check. Prix du Cadran winner? Check. Long Distance Cup winner, Ebor winner, an Ascot Gold Cup one and two? Check, check, check, check!

The Dubai Gold Cup is as strong a collection of staying talent as has been assembled in recent years and the likes of Big Orange and Quest For More will look to run the finish out of closers Vazirabad, so impressive in this last year, Sheikhzayedroad and Heartbreak City, while wildcards are in play with positive bulletins for Beautiful Romance, Trip To Paris and Kingfisher.

. . . and then there's the best horse in the world

With so much to look forward to, do not forget to actually watch Arrogate. The highest-rated horse in training, who his trainer reportedly asked Juddmonte to be renamed Baffert – a la Frankel – before he even raced, could leapfrog Gentildonna and become the highest-earning horse in history if adding the Dubai World Cup to his Travers, Breeders’ Cup and Pegasus wins.

Back in Britain there's still plenty going on

As if all the action from Meydan was not enough to sate the appetite, ITV4 shows seven races from Newbury and Kelso.

Old favourites Seeyouatmidnight, Reve De Sivola and Knockara Beau butt heads in a handicap hurdle at Kelso high on class, while at Newbury the likes of Pete The Feat, Killala Quay and Shotavodka do battle on a card that features a £50,000 bumper that has thrown up a whole host of useful sorts, a competitive-looking finale to the EBF & TBA mares’ novice series and arguably the

best-handicapped horse in training – if the Cheltenham runs of Don Bersy’s recent victims Coeur De Lion and Dino Velvet are taken at face value.