Honour and Glory won the Metropolitan in May. I guess that's the earliest it's going to happen if it does?

The Dubai World Cup is for 4 year olds and up anyway.

So did Holy Bull, Conquistador Cielo, Gulch, and Dixie Brass. Housebuster ran second between Criminal Type and Easy Goer.

n hemisphere 3 yo's have been decimated year after year running against horses 6 months older.

they can't beat the jv team. so let's run 'em against the varsity.

That is what I thought. You definitely can't get in the race as a 3yo in Gallop Racer.

... and for every story we hear I wonder how many more there are that are never publicized, like the money raised for the Riding for the Disabled Association of Dubai (RDAD) and Unicef through the annual Thanks a Million Draw at the DWC.

:D

For $12 million this year, what other great horses would have entered?

Good point. Though, when they start racing on synthetic at the new track, maybe some of the really good turf horses show up for the DWC instead?

by the way, talk about burying a story. The last line (words to be exact) refer to raising the purse to $12 million.. kind of an, 'oh by the way,' geesh...

Of course, since it will basically be split divisions with one division being a few furlongs shorter and worth a lot more money.

Jim, and Gioia too..

While I appreciate your zeal for the DWC and enjoyment of International racing, perpetuating the notion that Sh. Mo in particular is doing good things for racing is utterly ridiculous. He's single-handedly destroying the game by disturbing the sport's competitive balance and effectively trying to simply buy control of it. Invests in breeding? He's not investing, he's maniacally trying to buy ALL the breeding. And of course there will never be a decent 3yo that sees a handicap season as long as Darley continues in their current fashion.

He's also created the disgusting nouveau scenario of the instant purchase of any young horse, or even any decent looking older horse, which will completely ruin the game for fans. Thanks to Mo, you can look forward to a 'Rollerball' style corporate game shortly where Darley, Godolphin, IEAH and Team Valor basically have bought any decent horse. There will be a few holdouts that don't need the money, but most operations or owners will be compelled to sell.

There is in fact a rumor from credible sources that Darley approached IEAH/Pompa Friday night with a $30 million offer for Big Brown. IEAH has a huge war chest and would rather campaign forward at this point, but you can see what you're dealing with. And of course IEAH themselves threw $2MM at Pompa for 75% of Big Brown off the maiden win last summer...

It's not 'sporting', as Sh. Mo's shills love to claim, just as it wasn't sporting to retire Bernadini. And $12MM for a single race is of course just obscene and garish and typical of the way he operates believing that throwing money at everything assures some kind of 'class'. It's actually embarrassing. What pleasure he can take when whichever American-bred juvenile he bought smashes the career earnings record in his 7th career start with $11,000,000 accrued from the World Cup win on the heels of his wins in the previous year's UAE Derby and 3 stages of Mahktoum Challenges...

buying the stairway to heaven.

How about the one on HBO Real Sports a few years ago about the abuse of the young children they force into riding in the camel races over there. Real nice stuff. You do know who one of the biggest people behind camel racing is dont you?

If you haven't seen it , try and find it ...then tell me how great these people are.

I heard the interview with Sheikh Mohammed during the coverage on Saturday, and I took away from his comment that we were looking at potentially a $20 Mil dollar purse by the time the new track opens in 2010... I believe the question that was asked, was someithing along the lines of "Could we possibly see a purse in the range of $10 Mil for the DWC at the new track" and the way I understoods Sheikh Mohammed's response was that it could be at least "double"... I took that to mean $20 Mil, rather than double the current $6 Mil... I assure you I was sober at that time also...

I heard that interview to, but the way the question was asked, thought he meant double the current, not double the $10 Million

But I could barely understand either of them, so who knows

I've read the amount being considered is $12.....

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news...d=MzExMDA4NzE0

Last line...

You can look at the other side, where he is pumping tons of money into the American industry by buying those horses, assuming the people that are selling, are putting that money back into the industry. It isn't like he is charging ridiculous amounts of money for his stallions either, they are all priced at the right level.

I to would love to see some of these horses continue to race, but the very fact that YEARLINGS sell for a million dollars at the sales prevents that, there is just too much money in the breeding side. WHEN THAT evens out, meaning when racing = breeding, then you will have an even industry.

All this industry is doing, is what every other industry in America is doing, consolidating....

I respectfully disagree.