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Dubai World Cup nominees include Animal Kingdom, Royal Delta Defending champion Monterosso heads a star-studded list of nominations for the Group 1, $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 30, which also includes champion Animal Kingdom, multiple Grade 1 winner Dullahan, and the star South African mare Igugu. The 18th running of the world's richest race has attracted 272 nominees from 11 countries at closing of the free nominations. Among them are 184 from the the United Arab Emirates, 27 from the United States, 18 from South Africa, 11 from Japan, seven from Great Britain, four from Hong Kong and two from Singapore. Among those from the U.S. is the two-time champion mare Royal Delta, who finished ninth in last year's World Cup. The Dale Romans-trained duo, Dullahan and Little Mike, have also been nominated and are expected to have runs on the March 9 Super Saturday card en route to Dubai World Cup Day. Like many Dubai World Cup nominated horses, both also hold nominations for the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free and the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic. Following on from the memorable victory of Victoire Pisa in 2011, there is strong Japanese representation in the Dubai World Cup Day nominations, headed by four-time Grade 1 winner Gentildonna in the Sheema Classic, and high-class sprinter Lord Kanaloa, who holds a nomination for the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, the third leg of the 2013 Global Sprint Challenge. Igugu, Mike de Kock's highly-anticipated champion mare, is one of 18 Dubai World Cup nominations from the South African. She has also been nominated for the Duty Free, which has attracted 304 nominations, and the Sheema Classic, which has 266 nominations, including 2011 Group 1 Melbourne Cup and 2012 Group 1 Caulfield Cup winner Dunaden. Also in the Dubai World Cup running from the South African's stable are a number of Ballydoyle graduates including 2012 Group 1 Jebel Hatta winner and World Cup eighth, Masterofhounds; Group 2 Hardwicke winner Await The Dawn; Group 2 winner David Livingston; multiple Grade/Group 1 winner Treasure Beach; and multiple Group 2 winner Daddy Long Legs. Argentinean Group 1 and Grade 2 Breeders' Cup Marathon winner Calidoscopio, trained by Guillermo Frenkel, holds nominations for the World Cup and the Group 3 Dubai Gold Cup. Indian filly In the Spotlight has also been handed a Gold Cup nomination. A number of familiar names have once again been nominated to the nine-race card which represents the most valuable day of horse racing in the world. Dubai World Cup Carnival star, Barbecue Eddie, trained by Doug Watson, who has now won four on the bounce, has been nominated to the Group 2 Godolphin Mile, a race that he had to be withdrawn from in 2012 after suffering a fever in the preceding days. "In 2002 we had 87 horses nominated for the Dubai World Cup at the free nominations stage, this year we have 272," said Martin Talty, International Managerof the Dubai Racing Club. "The nominations shouldn't be used as an assessment of the quality of the ultimate field, but the large increases over the years do serve to demonstrate the status that this flagship race, and indeed all the races on the Dubai World Cup day, has attained all over the world. "A total of 23 countries are represented in these nominations for our program of six Group 1 races, two Group 2s and one Group 3 outing worth a combined $27,250,000 in prize money. I look forward to following the progress of all the nominated horses as we draw nearer to the big day on March 30." Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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