‘Super Saturday’ promises exciting day of prep races for Dubai World Cup

I love Super Saturday. It is a day of prep races for the Dubai World Cup, so it feels a bit like the big day, but there is less security and no issues with parking. It is a great, relaxed, day out and you get to watch two Group 1 races for as little as AED2 ($0.5). Bargain.

Onto the racing, which there is plenty of. There are nine races on the card at Meydan on Saturday and none had fewer declarations than 10, so it will not be an easy afternoon for Pick 6 players.

The official feature is G1 Maktoum Challenge R3 for Thoroughbreds, over the World Cup trip of 2000 meters on dirt. With the big race favorites, Algiers and Country Grammer, safely tucked up in their barns, this is a very open affair.

Salute The Soldier won this in 2021 and he has looked back to his best this season, but it will be hard to dominate this race from his wide draw in 10. There is also a fair bit of pace in the race, with Bendoog also liking to press forward. Bhupat Seemar’s giant four-year-old does not necessarily stop, either, and I fancy him to win this.

The G1 Jebel Hatta, prep race for the Dubai Turf, looks in the hands of Godolphin, who runs four. William Buick has opted to ride Master Of The Seas over Valiant Prince, despite the latter being unbeaten in four runs at this course. With G2 winner Real World — recently gelded — also in the lineup for Saeed bin Suroor, this is a fascinating race, especially as bin Suroor states that Real World is only 85 percent fit for this task. Even that might be just good enough, however, and I will side with him to take his Meydan turf record to two from two.

The G2 Dubai City of Gold is a prep for the Sheema Classic, but, in truth, far superior horses will be traveling over for that race. Saturday’s