Saeed bin Suroor will look to extend his record at the Dubai World Cup this Saturday, with the Godolphin trainer targeting a repeat success in the Dubai Gold Cup.
No trainer comes close to Bin Suroor’s 39 wins at the World Cup. Perhaps the most surprising of those victories came 12 months ago when Dubai Future stayed the course to land the Group 2 prize over 3,200m.
Not since the great French stayer Vazirabad won the Dubai Gold Cup for the third consecutive year in 2018 has there been a back-to-back winner of the long-distance feature.
Now 10, Dubai Future makes his return to the races for the first time since the G2 Lonsdale Cup at York in August.
“Dubai Future had a little setback, so this will be his first run of the year,” the Emirati said. “We took him to Meydan to work last week and I was pleased with how he went.
"He looks in good form, although this looks a much tougher race compared to last year, and there is rain coming. We are hoping for a good run, providing the ground is not too soft.”
Musabbeh Al Mheiri-trained El Nasseeb makes his Group 1 debut at Meydan, stepping up in class to tackle 12 other runners in the Dubai Golden Shaheen.
El Nasseeb is the form sprinter of the Dubai season with wins in the Listed Al Garhoud Sprint, the G3 Dubawi Stakes and the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal – all over the same course and distance (1,200m) as the Shaheen.
His only defeat came in the G3 Al Shindagha Sprint when he was pestered on the speed and Al Mheiri fears a similar scenario after the five-year-old emerged from Wednesday’s post position draw in Gate 1.
“It’s an OK draw but only because you can’t change it,” Al Mheiri said. “If he liked to be in front, number one would be good but he didn’t like it and so he will be behind.
"He did win last time from the inside [Gate 2] and he was able to still come at the end, but I would have preferred five, six or seven. But he is well and so we will try.”
The Emirati trainer is one win away from 600, and also saddles up outsider Khanjar, who has raced exclusively at 1,400m this season.
“If only I could swap their draws!” Al Mheiri said. “Khanjar has a good chance, better than it looks. He likes this track.”
Nakatomi is looking to make it third time lucky in the $2 million race.
The Wesley Ward-trained sprinter finished third in the Shaheen in 2024, well behind Tuz, who lines up in Gate 8 for this year’s race, but came up just a long neck short last year behind Dark Saffron.
“He's kind of an easy keeper, he's very easy to train now,” Ward said. “He's been down this road a couple of times before. He knows the drill, it's nothing new to him and he's settled in nicely just like he has the last couple of years. Everything is good.
“It’s always a tough race. The first year he went over there, he got away slow and kind of came through the pack and ran a good third. Last year, we got away good and just got beat. He's been training well down at Payson Park [in Florida] this winter and hasn't missed a beat.”
An inside post of four means that Ward will be holding his breath as the gates open, hoping that Florent Geroux manages to get the seven-year-old into stride quickly.
“I wish we could have drawn outside a little bit,” he admitted. “Sometimes he gets away a little slow, so it's all dependent on the break.”
