Saudi co-owned Country Grammer wins Dubai World Cup

DUBAI: Country Grammer, co-owned by Saudi businessman Amr Zedan, won the Dubai World Cup on Saturday ridden by Frankie Dettori, who also secured his fourth victory in the feature race. 

The strong favorite ahead of the race was Life Is Good, following successes in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and the Pegasus World Cup, but he failed to stay the course.

As Life Is Good slowed, it was Dettori on board Country Grammer in the colors of Zedan, who shares the horse with WinStar Farm and Commonwealth Thoroughbreds, who was quickest to capitalize on the failure of the favorite.  

Dettori, who previously won the Dubai World Cup riding Dubai Millennium, Moon Ballad and Electrocutionist, won the race for the first time in colors other than those of Dubai-based racing operation Godolphin.

It was a poignant victory for trainer Bob Baffert, who has been battling racing authorities back home in the US on several fronts after Medina Spirit’s positive post-race test for prohibited raceday substances in last year’s Kentucky Derby.