California Chrome Headlines $10 Million Dubai World Cup

The world’s richest race has attracted the world’s most popular horse, with 2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome making his way across the world to take on eight foes in Saturday’s $10 million Dubai World Cup (G1). 

The 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner is looking to double his current bankroll of $4,322,650 when he breaks from the starting gate at Meydan Racecourse as the betting favorite.

The colt is the 8-5 morning line favorite and has been bet down to +100, according to the latest odds released by Odds Shark for the race.

The race is part of the Jockey Club Tour on FOX and will air live on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports Go for a second consecutive year. The show will air from 12:30 to 1:30 pm ET.

Viewers will also get to see a replay of the $6 million Dubai Sheema Classic (G1), featuring Main Sequence, the Eclipse Award winner in 2014 for top turf male, and the $2 million UAE Derby (G2), which is a Road to the Kentucky Derby points race.

The World Cup card includes nine races, with $30 million up for grabs, bringing together many of the top horses in the world for a blockbuster night of racing.

The Dubai World Cup has been won by horses bred in six different nations, according to America’s Best Racing: the United States, Ireland, Great Britain, Argentina, Brazil and Japan.

U.S.-bred runners have made it to the winner’s circle nine times, with Animal Kingdom the most recent in 2013.

Just three U.S.-based horses made the trip last year for the card, but there are 16 competing this year, with most of the top contenders competing in dirt races. Meydan switched to conventional dirt after having a synthetic surface in previous years.

California Chrome is no doubt the star of the evening but faces a tough international cast that includes fellow U.S.-based runner Lea, the defending champion African Story, and Japan-based Hokko Tarumae and Epiphaneia.

Last year’s Kentucky Derby winner lost his first start of 2015, settling for the runner-up spot behind Shared Belief, currently the top-rated horse in the America’s Best Racing Top Ten Poll.

Peter Morgan/Associated Press/Associated Press

His trainer, Art Sherman, is enjoying his first trip to Dubai, and he said the colt is fit and ready for a top performance.

“I call him the California rock star,” Sherman said of his popular colt at the post-position draw press conference. “He's got such a following all over the world. I thought nobody would know me in Dubai, but from the moment I stepped off the plane, people said, ‘there’s California Chrome's trainer.’”

It has been an amazing journey for his trainer and owners. The colt is modestly bred by sire Lucky Pulpit, who stands for just $2,500, and Love the Chase, who raced for an $8,000 claiming tag and won just one of her six starts, earning $7,020 in her career.

Can the plucky colt be beaten in Dubai? Several have a shot of pulling off the upset.

Lea ships in from the U.S. for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who won the first Dubai World Cup in 1996 with the great Cigar. The six-year-old won the 2014 Donn Handicap (G1) and then missed nearly a year with an injury.

He returned to win the Hal’s Hope (G3) on Jan. 10 and then run second in this year’s Donn behind Constitution. The Mott trainee is the 5-2 second choice on the morning line.

African Story is the defending champion and has made just two starts since taking down the big prize last year. The eight-year-old gelding won the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (G1) in his last outing on March 7.

Hokko Tarumae is considered the best dirt horse in Japan and has won 15 of his 29 career starts, earning $8.5 million. The six-year-old comes to Dubai riding a three-race winning streak.

Epiphaneia came up short in the Arima Kinen (G1) in his last start but won the prestigious Japan Cup (G1), going one-and-a-half miles on turf on Nov. 30.  

Candy Boy is now based overseas with trainer Doug Watson but is a familiar name to U.S. fans. The colt ran 13th in the Kentucky Derby last year and in his last outing was sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).

If Lea runs back to his runner-up finish in the Donn, he is the one to beat, and California Chrome seems likely to land in the exacta, making it a good night for the U.S.

Dubai World Cup odds provided by Odds Shark

Follow Michael Dempsey on Twitter @turfnsport