Dubai: The 2009 Dubai World Cup (Group 1), the world's richest thoroughbred horse race worth $6 million, will be held on Saturday, March 28, at Nad Al Sheba.
The world's richest day's racing will be the highlight of 46 race meetings this season, hosted by three UAE racing clubs - the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, Dubai Racing Club and Jebel Ali Racecourse.
The fixtures for the 2008-09 UAE racing season were released yesterday by the Board of Directors for the Emirates Racing Authority (ERA). The season will open at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday, November 6, the first of 21 fixtures there.
Winter challenge
The first 10 make up the Winter Racing Challenge, before the Dubai International Racing Carnival (DIRC) starts on Thursday, January 15, with the first rounds of the Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Challenge.
The 10 2009 DIRC fixtures will be held on the corresponding weekends to that of last season, and climax with the Super Thursday meeting on Thursday, March 5.
Jebel Ali will host the first of their 10 Friday meetings on November 21, while Abu Dhabi stages 15 Sunday fixtures, commencing on November 9.
The inaugural winner of the Dubai World Cup was the United States Hall of Fame thoroughbred, Cigar.
Last year Curlin, whose major racing wins include the 2007 Preakness Stakes, the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic, won the Dubai World Cup. Curlin won the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday. The four-year-old suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Red Rocks when racing on turf last time but back on dirt, he returned to his best.
