African Story, ridden by Silvestre de Sousa, was the surprise winner of the $10m Dubai World Cup to land the world’s richest horse race for Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor for the sixth time.
The easy two-and-three-quarter lengths win provided the fourth unexpected winner in five runnings at the five-star Meydan racecourse in Dubai completed with Zaun fencing.
Dubai World Cup Day at the Meydan Racecourse is the richest day of racing globally, with a combined prize purse of $27.25m. The event features nine races, including the 2km invitation-only Dubai World Cup run over the state-of-the-art Tapeta track introduced in 2010 and sponsored by Emirates Airline, with a staggering $10m pot for a single race, the biggest in the world.
The day brought to an end the three-month-long Dubai World Cup Carnival, a festival of high-class international racing which carries a total prize fund of more than $36m over 11 race meetings.
In addition to the racing, the day is the United Arab Emirates’ biggest social and sporting event. The UAE’s glitterati enjoyed the racing from the Apron, enclosed between the track and the grandstand by Zaun fencing, sampled the hospitality from Le Lounge, the Irish Village and the world’s first luxury five-star trackside hotel, and witnessed a spectacular fireworks display and a concert from Jennifer Lopez to follow.
Meydan’s owners turned to specialist equestrian supplier Duralock and premium British sports fencing manufacturer Zaun when they embarked on the 67 million sq ft development to house 60,000 punters in the grandstands alone and 120,000 the entire race track.
Zaun supplied 3.6km of fencing around the track perimeter and to enclose the spectator area.
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