Karaka Graduates Target Dubai World Cup Meeting

The eyes of the racing world will turn to Dubai over the weekend as some of the world's best race horses, including Karaka graduates So You Think (NZ), Ambitious Dragon (NZ) and Joy and Fun (NZ), take to the Meydan Racecourse at the famous Dubai World Cup Meeting.

With the nine-race card boasting stakes of over US$27 million, the US$10 million Group 1 Dubai World Cup (2000m) is the pinnacle race of the meeting and is headed by the New Zealand bred eight-time international Group 1 winner So You Think (High Chaparral x Triassic).

A clear $3 favourite for the world's richest race, the Aidan O'Brien trained So You Think comes into the Dubai World Cup fresh up after a four-and-a-half month break from the track. So You Think's previous campaign saw him race in four countries and win three Group 1 races in England and Ireland - the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, Group 1 Eclipse Stakes and Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes.

So You Think (NZ) leads the Aidan O'Brien trained horses round the Meydan Racetrack. Photo courtesy of Coolmore Stud.

His Group 1 Eclipse Stakes victory saw him become the first non-Irish, English or European horse to win a Group 1 over a middle distance in England since the American galloper Reigh Court who won the Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom in 1929.

So You Think boasts a strong record fresh up, dealing to a first-class field in the Group 2 New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes in August 2010 and winning his Irish debut, the Group 3 Mooresbridge Stakes (2011m), by an easing 10 lengths in May last year.

A $110,000 purchase by DGR Thoroughbreds from Windsor Park Stud at New Zealand Bloodstock's 2008 Karaka Premier Sale, So You Think will be out to become the first New Zealand bred winner of the Group 1 Dubai World Cup. He has drawn well in barrier four and will be ridden by Aidan O'Brien's son Joseph.

The US$5 million Group 1 Dubai Duty Free (1800m) will see Hong Kong's reigning Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon (Pins x Golden Gamble) head into new territory as he experiences his first race outside of Hong Kong and his first start racing counter-clockwise.

Trained by Tony Millard, Ambitious Dragon has taken the Hong Kong circuit by storm claiming the first two legs of Hong Kong's prestigious Triple Crown, the HK-1 Stewards Cup (1600m) and HK-1 Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m), at his two previous starts.

Ambitious Dragon (NZ) bursts clear in the 2011 Hong Kong Derby. Photo courtesy of the HKJC.

Ambitious Dragon became just the second horse in history to win the HK-1 Hong Kong Derby/Group 1 QE II Cup double last season. The only other horse to achieve the double was the New Zealand bred Karaka graduate Vengeance of Rain (Zabeel) in 2005.

Vengeance of Rain ran fifth in the HK-1 Stewards Cup and won the HK-1 Hong Kong Gold Cup in 2007 before travelling successfully to Dubai to win the US$5 million Group 1 Shema Classic (2410m).

With Ambitious Dragon winning both of those races coming into the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free, he will be looking to go two places better than the mighty Sunline (NZ) (Desert Sun) who ran third to Jim and Tonic in the Dubai Duty Free in 2001.

Offered by Belvedere Farm at New Zealand Bloodstock's 2008 Karaka Select Sale, Ambitious Dragon has drawn well in barrier four and will be ridden by champion jockey Douglas Whyte.

Joy and Fun (Cullen x Gin Player) is no stranger to the Dubai World Cup meeting having won the Group 3 Al Quoz Sprint (1200m) in 2010. Now a Group 1 race carrying a stake of US$1 million, the eight-year-old has been well backed to claim his second victory in the race paying $8.50, with race favourite Ortensia (Testa Rossa) at $8.

Joy and Fun won the Al Quoz Sprint in 2010. Photo courtesy of the HKJC.

Trained by Derek Cruz, Joy and Fun carries solid form into the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint having run second in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint in December, second in the HK-1 Sprint Cup in January and winning the HK-1 Chairman's Sprint Prize at his last start in early February.

Purchased by NZB as Agent as a weanling from Java Lodge at New Zealand Bloodstock's 2004 National Weanling and Broodmare Sale, Joy and Fun has also drawn well for Sunday morning in barrier 6 and will be ridden by Brett Doyle.

To view the fields for the Dubai World Cup meeting, click here. The meeting will be shown live on Trackside TV. For a full list of the nine races and their times, please visit http://www.tab.co.nz/.

• US$1 million Al Quoz Sprint (1200m) - 3am Sunday NZ time.
• US$5 million Dubai Duty Free (1800m) - 4.25am Sunday NZ time
• US$10 million Group 1 Dubai World Cup (2000m) - 5.40am Sunday NZ time.