East Asia looking for more giant-killing at Dubai World Cup for trainer Ian Williams

If seven-year-old East Asia comes first in the $1m Dubai Gold Cup on Saturday, it will be one of the biggest upsets of the 2022 Dubai World Cup. Indeed, of any Dubai World Cup.

As his British trainer Ian Williams puts it, it would be like a Championship team winning the UEFA Champions League.

“It’s quite an interesting story because East Asia was trained in Dubai, and he was transferred to us by his Dubai-based owner Sayed Hashish. He was a six-year-old maiden rated 70. A 70-rated maiden is a horse that has never won a race and is not particularly highly regarded.”

Williams had a major task on his hands to improve East Asia, but made progress, after a difficult start.

“He came over to the UK in March last year and settled in very slowly,” said Williams. “We had to use the paddocks and get him some grass because he didn’t travel the best.”

“But he kicked off with a win first time at Newbury, which was great,” he said. “He then went on and won a couple of times at Goodwood. His handicap was slowly rising, and after a couple of also-rans, he got back on track at Nottingham in October, and he was put up to the threshold of 90, which qualified him for the Carnival. Which had always been the dream, if you like, with him coming over to the UK. So at that stage he was invited to run in the Carnival and travelled back to Dubai.”

On his return to the UAE at the end of December, however, East Asia suffered very badly with travel sickness.

“He missed his first engagement because he’s been terribly ill,” said Williams. “One of our team members did a great job of getting him back. He finished second in the Meydan Group 3. And that got him ultimately an invite to run on World Cup night. So he’s now rated 102, which is some 32