Dubai Cup is Coming!

The first of 10 meetings of the Dubai Cup alreadyto compete at this year's Carnival and 19 of
kicked off this week with the opening rounds ofthose are Group 1 winners. International riding
the 2008 Dubai International Racing Carnivalstars Frankie Dettori, Mick Kinane, John Murtagh,
starting last Thursday with a record number ofRyan Moore, Ted Durcan and Kevin Shea will be
top rated horses set to compete in the world'son the scene.
most international and richest festival in racing.It is a fact that the Dubai Cup has become the
The race which is held annually at the Nad Alfavorite race for horse trainers and owners but
Sheba Race course, the 2,000m track is thealso the most important event on the Emirate's
witness of the Dubai Cup, the biggest day ofsocial calendar. Off the track; the Arabians offer
racing in the global calendar with more than US$6the Carnival Style Stakes and the Super
million at stake and the best thoroughbreds in theThursday Style Stakes staged on February 28th
world. The first meeting of the carnival will be theand March 6th where the Best Dressed Lady
Super Thursday fixture on March 6th, the lastcompetition is the feature prize during both nights.
step before the Dubai World Cup staged onThere are also prizes on the Best Dressed Couple
March 29th which is sponsored by HH Sh. Hamdanand Best Hat winners.
bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai,An International Horse Fair staged on March 20th
and UAE Minister of Finance & Industry.will be one more of the events to enhance the
United Arab Emirates has organized the race sinceInternational Championship and to attract a big
1996; the figures for 2008 are clearly superior toamount of consumers from around the world.
previous years which have proved to be veryOnce again, and thanks to its successful
successful. Actually, from the 263 horses thattrajectory the Championship will be broadcasted
were accepted, there are 23 individual horses thatlive on television, with a great percentage of US
were successful at Group 1 level in 2007,viewers which truly enjoy the majesty of all type
compared to the 18 of the previous year.of thoroughbreds.
Forty-three group stakes winners are expected