‘It is a good surface’: Dubai Racing Club and Bob Baffert reassure horsemen over Dubai World Cup dirt

Several high-profile horses have suffered injuries during the season on the dirt at Meydan, which will stage the $10 million feature race on Dubai World Cup night.

Victor Espinoza rides California Chrome to victory in the Dubai World Cup on the dirt track at Meydan Racecourse on March 26, 2016 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Warren Little / Getty Images

DUBAI // The Dubai Racing Club have moved to reassure international horsemen that the dirt surface will be the best it can be for the Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday.

The US$10 million (Dh37m) contest is not the only race to be staged on the dirt, with the Dubai Golden Shaheen, the UAE Derby, the Godolphin Mile and the Kahayla Classic for Purebred Arabians all taking place on the surface.

There is a small chance of rain on Friday, but forecasts suggest there is a 50 per cent chance that rain will fall on the big day.

"We maintain the dirt surface as we have always maintained it," Frank Gabriel, the executive director of the Dubai Racing Club," told The National.

“It is a dirt surface, so we harrow it, we level it and we make it the best condition we can in the environment it is in.”

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Primary concerns from horsemen during the Carnival have been that the surface is loose on top, which generates a significant amount of kickback, and then firm underneath.

Several high-profile horses have suffered injuries during the season on the dirt, too. Satish Seemar’s popular eight-year-old Surfer fractured a pelvis behind Godolphin Mile favourite North America in February, while more recently the sprinter Mushir broke a pastern in training and had to be put down.

The turf has not fared much better. Graystorm, the Turkish raider, suffered a spiral fracture to his left foreleg in the Al Fahidi Fort in February, while Mike de Kock’s Ertijaal fractured a sesamoid during the Group 1 Jebel Hatta on Super Saturday.

The dirt surface has been praised by several international trainers over the past few days, however, with Bob Baffert and Alain de Royer-Dupre, whose horses Zarak and Vazirabad have trained on it for several weeks, particularly complimentary.

Baffert said on Monday: “It is a good surface. It is soft and they get over it well.”

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