DUBAI WORLD CUP:VALUE FOR money may be a frivolous concept when the world's richest race meeting is run for the first time at the most high-tech racetrack on the planet, but Gloria De Campeao could still be an appropriately international bet to win this evening's $10 million (€7.5 million) Dubai World Cup.
The vagaries of high finance were rarely better illustrated than during the winter when Dubai’s property crash coincided with the opening of the billion-dollar Meydan racecourse, which hosts its first World Cup meeting today.
Seven races are worth €19 million in all, and they are all being shown live on a five-hour programme on TG4.
The lack of an Irish runner doesn’t detract from what remains a truly international card, with the 14 runners in the World Cup including the British hopes Twice Over, Crowded House and Gitano Hernando, and the French star Vision D’Etat, whose hopes will depend on passing a vet’s exam this morning.
Gloria De Campeao ran eighth to Curlin in the 2008 World Cup and was runner-up to Well Armed last year at Nad Al Sheba, but represents much of what this card is about in international terms.
Owned by a Swedish businessman living in Brazil, trained in France by Pascal Bary and ridden by Brazilian Tiago Pereira, Gloria De Campeao’s finest moment came in last year’s Singapore International Cup. Already a winner on Meydan’s Tapeta synthetic surface, the veteran doesn’t have much to make up on the Japanese star Red Desire on form and is twice the price.
The trio of Youmzain, Cavalryman and Dar Re Mi, who chased home Sea The Stars in last year’s Arc, line up against another Japanese top-notcher in Buena Vista in the Sheema Classic. But a return to this trip should suit Cavalryman.
Rocket Man looks the likely answer to the Golden Shaheen.
Meydan Selections
1.20 – War Artist
1.55 – Desert Party
2.35 – Musir
3.15 – Rocket Man
3.55 – Lahaleeb
4.35 – Cavalryman
5.45 – Gloria De Campeao
