In the days leading up to the $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on March 27, usracing.com will profile the contenders in the 2,000-meter (about 1 1.4-miles) race. The profiles will be updated with odds, post positions and jockeys following the post-position draw scheduled for Wednesday (March 24).
By Lynne Snierson
Speedy Move – Photo Courtesy of Dubai Racing Club, Erika Rasmussen
The connections of Thegreatcollection were faced with a Dubai World Cup card dilemma. Would they run the 7-year-old horse on Saturday in the Godolphin Mile (G2), where he would have vied for favoritism, or line him up in the gate for the $12 million, Group 1 main event at the longer distance, knowing he’d be a longshot?
Trainer Doug Watson, the American-born six-time UAE training champion, and owner Zaur Sekrekov opted to go for the glory. The connections are confident that this Florida-bred belongs in the field.
The horse’s last win may have been in the Dec. 17 in the Dubai Creek Mile, but his seventh victory was the biggest success of his 28-race career. Since then and while stretching out in distance he’s stayed in top form and shown up in every leg of the highly competitive 2021 Al Maktoum Challenge while tangling with several of those he’ll face again in the Dubai World Cup.
He finished second to Military Law and in front of Salute the Soldier in Round 1 (G2) on Jan. 21, then was the runner-up to Salute the Soldier in Round 2 (G2) on Feb. 11. Last time out, he was third behind Salute the Soldier and Hypothetical.
Now Watson hopes that Thegreatcollection will turn the tables on those rivals and give the trainer his first Dubai World Cup score.
Post position: TBD
Odds: TBD
Trainer: Doug Watson
Jockey: TBD
Owners: Zaur Sekrekov
Age: 7
Career record: 28 7-7-2
Career earnings: $564,583
Top Equibase speed figure: 75 (as a 2-year-old in 2016)
Pedigree: Saint Anddan-Cactus Cadillac, Cactus Ridge
Color: Dark bay
Running style: Closer
Notes: Watson’s Red Stables is one of the longest established training facilities in Dubai. Thegreatcollection is said to be “loved by Watson’s staff” and is a barn favorite … Zaur Sekrekov owns Sekrekov Stud in Nalchik, Russia in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, where according to the website, he currently stands two stallions: Scatter the Gold is 24 and a son of the immortal Mr. Prospector and Canadian and American Hall of Famer Dance Smartly. Tormount, 28, is a Kentucky-bred … Thegreatcollection ran three times in the U.S. as a juvenile in 2016, winning twice, before being sold and relocated to Dubai.
Lynne Snierson, a former director of communications at Arlington Park and Rockingham Park, currently is a freelance writer and racing publicist. She covered thoroughbred racing as an award-winning sportswriter for newspapers In Boston, Miami, and St. Louis. She lives in New Hampshire. Secretariat remains her all-time favorite horse.