The 2017 Dubai World Cup was a

horse race Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

held at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday 25 March 2017. It was the 22nd running of the Dubai World Cup and the third running of the race since the synthetic Tapeta surface was replaced by a dirt track. The winner was

Juddmonte Farm Juddmonte Farms is a horse breeding farm, owned until his death on 12th January 2021 by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.National Thoroughbred Racing Association"Juddmonte Farms, Inc.", profile. Retrieved October 16, 2007. Overview J ...

's Arrogate, a four-year-old grey colt trained in the United States by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith. Arrogate's victory was the third in the race for Baffert after Silver Charm in 1998 and Captain Steve in 2001 and was the first in the race for his jockey and owner.

The contenders

The race had a strong North American challenge headed by Arrogate, who had begun his 2017 campaign by winning the Travers Stakes in record time. The other runners from the United States were Gun Runner,

Keen Ice Keen Ice (foaled March 25, 2012) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for winning the 2015 Travers Stakes in an upset win over Triple Crown Champion American Pharoah. He previously faced off against American Pharoah and other notab ...

, Hoppertunity ( Clark Handicap, Jockey Club Gold Cup) and Neolithic. The United Arab Emirates was represented by Mubtaahij ( UAE Derby), Move Up ( Bosphorus Cup), Special Fighter (

Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 3 The Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 3, is a horse race run over a distance of 2,000 metres (one and a quarter miles) on dirt in March at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. It is the third of three races in the Al Maktoum Challenge series which serve as trial ...

, 2016), Long River (Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 3, 2017) and the Chilean-bred mare Furia Cruzada (

Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 2 The Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 2, is a horse race run over a distance of 1,900 metres (1 mile, one and a half furlongs) on dirt in February at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. It is the second of three races in the Al Maktoum Challenge series which ser ...

). The other four runners were the Japanese challengers Gold Dream (

February Stakes The is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for four-year-old and above thoroughbreds. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately 8 furlongs) at Tokyo Racecourse in late February. It was first run in 1984 as February Handicap, and wa ...

), Awardee ( JBC Classic), Apollo Kentucky (

Tokyo Daishoten Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

) and Lani (3rd in the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...

). Betting is illegal in Dubai, but British bookmakers made Arrogate the 1/3 favourite ahead of Gun Runner on 7/1. The only other runners given any chance according to the betting were Hoppertunity, Move Up and Mubtaahij who started at 16/1.

The race

Arrogate was hampered at the start and dropped back to the rear of the field. Long River set the early pace ahead of Gun Runner and Neolithic with Mubtaahij close behind. Few of the other runners were ever in contention. With half a mile left to run Gun Runner went to the front and Long River quickly dropped away. Gun Runner turned for home with a clear advantage but Arrogate produced a sustained run on the outside, took the lead 200 metres from the finish and drew away to win "comfortably" by two and a quarter

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the In ...

. Neolithic was five lengths away in third ahead of Mubtaahi, Awardee, Hoppertunity and Keen Ice with the other seven finishers trailing in at long intervals.

Race details

* Sponsor: Emirates Airline * Purse: £8,130,081; First prize: £4,878,048 * Surface: Dirt * Going: Muddy * Distance: 10 furlongs * Number of runners: 14 * Winner's time: 2:02.15

Full result

* Abbreviations: nse = nose; nk = neck; shd = head; hd = head

Winner's details

Further details of the winner, Arrogate * Sex: Colt * Foaled: 11 April 2013 * Country: United States * Sire: Unbridled's Song; Dam: Bubbler ( Distorted Humor) * Owner: Juddmonte Farms * Breeder: Clearsky Farms

References

{{Dubai World Cup Dubai World Cup Dubai World Cup Dubai World Cup Dubai World Cup