2019 Dubai World Cup


The 2019 Dubai World Cup was a horse race run at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on 30 March 2019. It was the 24th running of the race. The total prize money for the race was $12 million, with the winner receiving $7.2 million. This was an increase of $2 million on the previous year, making it the world's richest horse race in 2019.
The race was won for the second year running by Thunder Snow, who became the first horse to win the Dubai World Cup twice.

Entries

A total of 13 horses were entered for the race, including Godolphin's defending champion Thunder Snow, who was bidding to become the first horse to win the race for a second time. Al Maktoum Challenge winners North America and Capezzano headed a strong local challenge from the United Arab Emirates, which also included Axelrod, Gronkowski and New Trails. The United States was also well represented with Pegasus World Cup runner-up Seeking The Soul, Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up Gunnevera, along with Audible, Pavel and Yoshida. The field was completed by Japanese challenger K T Brave and the Korean-trained Dolkong.

Road to Meydan

The contenders' results in key races during the build-up to the Dubai World Cup.

Race card

The draw for the race was made on 27 March.
K T Brave was later withdrawn, reducing the field to 12.
No.DrawHorseWeight JockeyTrainerOwner
11Gunnevera 57.0Emisael JaramilloAntonio Sano Salomón Del Valle
22Capezzano 57.0Mickael BarzalonaSalem bin Ghadayer Sultan Ali
33North America 57.0Richard MullenSatish Seemar Ramzan Kadyrov
44Audible 57.0Flavien PratTodd Pletcher WinStar Farm, China Horse Club et al.
55Seeking The Soul 57.0Mike E. SmithDallas Stewart Charles E. Fipke
66Pavel 57.0Joel RosarioDoug O'Neill Reddam Racing LLC
77Gronkowski 57.0Oisin MurphySalem bin Ghadayer Phoenix Thoroughbred III Ltd
88Axelrod 57.0Royston FfrenchSalem bin Ghadayer Phoenix Thoroughbred III Ltd & Slam Dunk Racing
99New Trails 57.0Connor BeasleyAhmad bin Harmash Hamdan Sultan Ali Alsabousi
1010Yoshida 57.0Jose OrtizBill Mott China Horse Club, WinStar Farm et al.
NRNRK T Brave 57.0João MoreiraHaruki Sugiyama Kazuyoshi Takimoto
1212Thunder Snow 57.0Christophe SoumillonSaeed bin Suroor Godolphin
1313Dolkong 57.0Olivier DoleuzeSimon Foster Lee Tae In

Race

Summary

North America was fastest out of the gates and took an early lead, with defending champion Thunder Snow breaking well from the second widest draw to move in behind the leader, alongside Capezzano, who was pulling hard on the inside. As the horses settled, Gronkowski moved through to challenge North America for the lead, with the leaders closely followed by Thunder Snow, Capezzano and New Trails. The positions at the front of the race remained unchanged until the final bend, where Capezzano and New Trails quickly faded. Into the home straight, North America started to drop back as Thunder Snow challenged Gronkowski for the lead. The two horses, now clear of the rest of the field, battled all the way to the line, with Thunder Snow getting up to win by a nose in a photo finish, becoming the first horse to win two Dubai World Cups. Gunnevera ran on from the back to take third place, with Pavel staying on to finish fourth.

Full result

PositionMarginHorseJockeyTrainerPrize
1Thunder SnowChristophe SoumillonSaeed bin Suroor$7,200,000
2noseGronkowskiOisin MurphySalem bin Ghadayer$2,400,000
32¾GunneveraEmisael JaramilloAntonio Sano$1,200,000
4½PavelJoel RosarioDoug O'Neill$600,000
5AudibleFlavien PratTodd Pletcher$360,000
61¾YoshidaJose OrtizBill Mott$240,000
72½North AmericaRichard MullenSatish Seemar
8headSeeking The SoulMike E. SmithDallas Stewart
9neckAxelrodRoyston FfrenchSalem bin Ghadayer
101¼New TrailsConnor BeasleyAhmad bin Harmash
116DolkongOlivier DoleuzeSimon Foster
1217CapezzanoMickael BarzalonaSalem bin Ghadayer