Eclipse Award winners Gio Ponti and Lookin at Lucky are among the record 1,951 horses nominated to the March 27 Dubai World Cup program at the new Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
Gio Ponti, the champion male handicap horse and champion male turf horse, was among 288 horses nominated to the $10 million World Cup (UAE-I), the centerpiece of the eight-race card that will be contested over the Tapeta synthetic surface for the first time. Lookin At Lucky, the champion 2-year-old male of 2009, tops the field nominated to the $2-million UAE Derby (UAE-II).
According to the Dubai Racing Club, the nominees consist of 911 individual entries from 23 countries. The host United Arab Emirates topped the nominations list with 371 individual nominations and 919 total nominations. The U.S. was next, with 159 individual nominations and 271 overall nominations. The World Cup card consists of seven Thoroughbred races and one race restricted to Arabian horses.
Among other top American horses on the nomination list are Furthest Land, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) who was nominated to the Godolphin Mile (UAE-II), and Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner California Flag.
