The Dubai World Cup recently lost its tag of the world's richest horse race but that is not to say that the stakes will not remain extremely high when the 23rd staging of the race takes place on March 31. As it stands, a field of 10 will line up for the $10m showdown - which will conclude the racing season in the United Arabs Emirates - and the odds are very short on a third American winner in succession but although there have been two short-priced victors in 2016 and 2017 respectively, it has not always gone to plan for the favourites.
The Dubai World Cup horse racing betting odds indicate that West Coast is expected to win on Saturday but not all of the statistics are in the favour of the four-year-old. West Coast is yet to record a win over older horses and jockey Javier Castellano have never emerged victorious in this face. Last year, the Venezuelan finished in seventh place on 33/1 shot Keen Ice. However, trainer Bob Baffert has won this race on three occasions, with last year's triumph for Arrogate representing his first success since 2001.
As it stands, West Coast is a little shorter than Evens. If you can get him for that closer to the race, you have done well! The price comes from West Coast's showings at the Breeders Cup Classic and the Pegasus World Cup. The highly-rated horse did not win either contest, but a third and second-place respectively makes him stand out from the rest. Baffert also trains another of the main contenders in Collected, who has finished in the top three on his last four outings. The five-year-old is currently priced anywhere between 6/1 and 8/1.
Another of the Stateside runners who is expected to make an impression is Forever Unbridled, who will be making her final competitive appearance. A filly or mare has never won the Dubai World Cup so odds similar to Collected appear to be short, but the Charles Fipke horse has registered three victories on the bounce so cannot be written off. Talismanic - owned by Godolphin - is another to keep an eye on but a price of 13/2 does not particularly offer that much value considering it is the horse's first outing on the dirt.
North America features down the listings but English jockey Richard Mullen is quoted by The National as saying that the six-year-old has "a serious chance" of causing an upset. North America is currently priced in the region of 12/1 but he stormed to victory by five lengths over the same course and distance as recently as March 10. Each of the favourites of the race since it was changed to turf have finished second, first and first respectively but Prince Bishop proved in 2015 that an outsider can cause a surprise and this year's "dark horse" could very well be North America.
