Dubai World Cup

Formerly known as the Dubai International Racing Carnival, the Dubai World Cup Carnival consists of a series of nine meetings staged at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates between January and March each year. The Dubai World Cup Carnival is staged in preparation for Dubai World Cup Night, in the late March, the highlight of which is the Dubai World Cup, a Group 1 race run over 2,000 metres, or approximately a mile and a quarter, on dirt and worth $12 million in prize money (with prize money for the whole event at over $30 million as of 2025). With Dubai comes big money.

Inaugurated Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, in 1996, the Dubai World Cup was originally run at Nad Al Sheba before being transferred to Meydan in 2010. In its recent history, the Dubai World Cup has vied with the Pegasus World Cup, staged at Gulfstream Park, Florida in January, as the most valuable horse race in the world. However, since the inauguration of the Saudi Cup, at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which is worth $20 million, the Dubai World Cup has been only the second most valuable race in the world.

Nevertheless, the Dubai World Cup Carnival builds to a major milestone in the form of so-called 'Super Saturday', typically staged on the first Saturday in March. Super Saturday is the official 'dress rehearsal' for Dubai World Cup Night, intended to allow trainers from home and abroad with their eyes on the major prizes on the single most valuable raceday anywhere in the world to fine tune their chages.

Sydney Carnival

The Sydney Carnival, or Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival, consists of a series of major horses staged at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse and Royal Randwick Racecourse, situated in the suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, over a six-week period in March and April each year. The Sydney Carnival includes 45 Group races and, at the last count, was worth $33 million in prize money. It's a favourite with the Australian public, much like jokacasino real money online casinos.

At Rosehill Gardens, the highlight of the Sydney Carnival is Golden Slipper Day, which features the Golden Slipper, a Group 1 contest run over 1,200 metres or approximately 6 furlongs and open to two-year-old colts, fillies and geldings, plus four other Group 1 races. The Golden Slipper, alone, is worth $3.5 million in prize money, making it the most valuable race for juveniles run anywhere in the world.

At Royal Randwick, The Championships, billed as 'The Grand Finals of Australian Racing', are staged on the first and second Saturday in April. As the name suggests, The Championships feature twelve races over a variety of distances, open to different age groups and collectively worth over $21 million in prize money. Highlights of The Championships Day One incude the $3 million Doncaster Mile and the $2 million Australian Derby, while highlights of Day Two include the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the $2 million Sydney Cup. In 2019, the incomparable racemare Winx was retired from racing after winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes for the third year running.

Which horse was beaten favourite in the 2009 World Hurdle?

By way of clarification, the three-mile hurdling championship, previously and subsequently known as the Stayers' Hurdle was, between 2005 and 2016, sponsored by Ladbrokes and Ryanair and renamed the World Hurdle. Nevertheless, the Grade 1 contest was still run over 2 miles, 7 furlongs and 213 yards on the New Course at Cheltenham, where, alongside the Ryanair Chase, it formed one of the feature races on the third day of the Cheltenham Festival, staged annually in March.

The 2009 renewal of the World Hurdle was significant insofar as it featured the first appearance of Big Buck's, trained by Paul Nicholls, who would not only win at the first time of asking, but again in 2010, 2011 and 2012, during a then-record winning streak of 18 races. Racing fans took a break from online casino australia for real money wolfwinner and tuned into this memorable event. Originally campaigned over fences, Big Buck's unseated his rider, Sam Thomas, at the final fence in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on his seasonal debut in 2008/09 and the decision to send him on a retrieval mission, back over hurdles, ultimately proved to be a stroke of genius.

Favourite for the 2009 World Hurdle, though, was the Kasbah Bliss, trained by Francois Doumen, who was making his third appearance in the race, having finished fifth behind Inglis Drever in 2007 and second, beaten just a length, behind Iris's Gift in 2008. Fresh from an impressive, 8-length victory in the Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock Park the previous month, the 7-year-old was sent off at 10/11 to follow up at the Festival.

However, having been held up at the rear of the field, Kasbah Bliss made headway to challenge at the second-last flight, but was outpaced on the run to the last and weakened on the run-in, eventually finishing fourth, 20½ lengths behind Big Buck's. That provded to be his last appearance at the Cheltenham Festival and, indeed, over hurdles anywhere.

When was the Winter Derby established?

Not to be confused with the historic Derby Stakes, which is, of course, run over a mile and a half at Epsom on the first Saturday in June, the Winter Derby Stakes is run over a mile and a quarter on the essentially sharp, left-handed all-weather track at Lingfield in February or March. Unlike the Derby proper, which is restricted to three-year-old colts and fillies, the Winter Derby is open to horses of both sexes, including geldings, aged four years and upwards. The all-weather track at Lingfield, which was originally Equitrack, but has been Polytrack since 2001, is not dissimilar to Epsom, insofar as it is undulating, with a downhill turn into the straight, reminiscent of the famous Tattenham Corner. It's a race that appeals to gamblers interetsed in sports and even casino goers, such as those looking for casinous american casino bonuses.

The Winter Derby was established, as a conditions stakes race, in 1998, but was promoted to Listed status the following year and, again, to Group 3 status in 2006, such that it is now the first Group race in the British Flat racing calendar and one of just four run on synthetic surfaces. The 2023 winner, Lord North, who justified odds-on favouritism with a ready, 3¼-length win, was the highest-rated horse ever to compete in the Winter Derby. Unsurprisingly, though, his winning prize money, of £56,710, was just a fraction of the £885,781 taken home by the Derby winner, Auguste Rodin.

The inuaugural winner of the Winter Derby was the four-year-old Running Stag, trained by Philip Mitchell, in Epsom, and ridden by Ray Cochrane. The son of Breeders' Cup Mile winner Cozzene won comfortably, by 3½ lengths, from Refuse To Lose and Mitchell later reflected on his success, saying, 'That was a serious coup. He was a Group horse racing against good handicappers.' Later that season, Running Stag competed in Germany, France and the United States, finishing seventh in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

Generally speaking, how have fillies fared in the Derby?

Of course, the Derby Stakes was famously founded by Sir Charles Bunbury and Edward Smith-Stanley, the Twelfth Earl of Derby, in 1780 and reputedly named in honour of the latter after a (probably apocryphal) coin toss between the pair. The race has always been run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey, but the first four renewals were staged on a straight, one-mile course; the wide, sweeping, left-handed turn into the straight, known as Tattenham Corner, did not become a feature of the Derby course until 1784, when the distance was extended to a mile and a half. Similarly, the Derby has always been open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies, although nowadays the race conditions stipluate 'entire' colts only; geldings have been excluded since 1904.

The Derby is the most prestigious of the five British Classics – the other four being the 2,000 Guineas, 1,000 Guineas, Oaks and St. Leger – and, with the winner collecting £892,160, at the last count, far and away the most valuable. Despite being run on the famously undulating, switchback track at Epsom, the Derby is supposed to produce a winner that is the outstanding middle-distance performer of a generation, whose name is, accordingly, etched into the annals of racing history. Nevertheless, for all the prestige and value of the 'Blue Riband' event, the names of winning fillies on the Derby roll of honour are few and far between, especially since the turn of the twentieth century.

In fact, the last filly to contest, never mind win, the Derby was Cape Verdi, way back in 1998. Owned by Goldolphin and trained by Saeed bin Suroor, the daughter of Caerleon, from the family of Nijinsky, justified joint-favouritism in the 1,000 Guineas when hacking up by 5 lengths on her first outing in the now-famous royal blue silks. Consequently, she was sent off as clear 11/4 favourite at Epsom, ahead of Grand Criterium winner Second Empire, trained by Aidan O'Brien, but, in truth, never really figured. Held up early, she met trouble in running on the descent into Tattenham Corner, but looked a non-stayer as she weakened inside the final quarter of a mile, eventually finishing ninth of 15, 12 lengths behind the eventual winner, High-Rise.

Overall, in 244 runnings of the Derby, so far, including the substitute races run at Newmarket between 1915 and 1918, during World War I, and between 1940 and 1945, during World War II, just six fillies – or, in other words, less than 0.25% of all the winners – have been victorious. The first of them was Eleanor, owned by the aforementioned Sir Charles Bunbury, in 1801 and she followed, in chronological order, by Blink Bonny in 1857, Shotover in 1882, Signorinetta in 1908, Tagalie in 1912 and Fifinella in 1916. The last-named, trained by Richard 'Dick' Dawson, won the so-called 'New Derby Stakes' at Newmarket on May 30, 1916 and followed up in the 'New Oaks Stakes', over the same course and distance, two days later. Thus, the last filly to win an 'authentic' Derby, over the traditional course and distance on Epsom Downs, was Tagalie in 1912.

Notwithstanding the existence of the Oaks Stakes, run over the same course and distance as the Derby, the dearth of fillies in the principal Classic essentially boils down to the commercial realities of the bloodstock industry. A colt that wins the Derby can command eye-watering stud fees as a stallion and, potentially, cover hundreds of mares a year. The 2009 Derby winner, Sea The Stars, for example, is currently standing at the Gilltown Stud, in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare for €200,000. By contrast, a filly that wins the Derby can only produce one foal a year as a broodmare and, as such, is a much less valuable commodity.