The Dubai Horse Racing World Cup: How it was formed.

The city of Dubai has become a hotspot for a wide range of developing industries and sporting events. In recent years, the local population has expressed their particular interest in horse racing, which has culminated in the ever-present excitement that continues to build ahead of the annual Dubai Horse Racing World Cup.

The Middle East has quickly developed into a hotspot for all the latest trends and hosting events for a variety of sports and entertainment outlets, which has previously included the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the increased number of prestigious boxing and MMA cards that are held in Saudi Arabia as well as the continuous development of the Pro Saudi football league who have since spent a significant sum of money to bring in some of the top stars to be featured in world football.

However, one of the most decorated Middle Eastern sporting events that has remained a proud staple of the culture within the region is the annual Dubai World Cup, which offers horse racing fans a plethora of action-packed encounters and high-stakes wagers featuring some of the best competitors in the racing scene today.

While Dubai has quickly become a mainstay destination for many momentous sporting events and other mainstream entertainment acts, the Dubai World Cup has remained a beloved annual event that draws in mass spectators worldwide.

The event has remained a focal point of the city's unique culture and interests for decades. The competition itself enjoys a long and expansive list of notable competitors that immediately put it on the map, as well as an intriguing history going all the way back to its initial establishment.

• A brief look at the history of the Dubai World Cup:

For anyone interested in learning more about the latest on the Dubai World Cup, DraftKings provides a complete listing of available odds for those who are interested in finding out more about how to bet on horse racing, with this competition, in particular, being one of the most pristine that the racing world has to offer.

The event was first established by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in 1996 and was held at the Meydan Racecourse, which is still held today.

The racecourse is a regular sellout ahead of any event, drawing in over 60,000 spectators every year. The event aims to pit the very best competitors and jockeys against each other from all over the world, which is why the competition is appropriately named the Dubai World Cup.

In the inaugural race, thoroughbred Cigar became the first competitor to win the event while representing the United States of America alongside jockey Jerry Bailey and trainer William Mott, clocking a completion time of 2 minutes and 3 seconds.

Following the incredible success of the initial event, this has now become a regular racing event held every year on the last Saturday of March and features a 2,000-meter track with a potential prize-winning $12 million purse following from the 2024 event.

• Who are some of the most successful names to compete in the Dubai World Cup?

There have been many standout individual displays and records set in the nearly 30-year existence of the Dubai World Cup, and many have since gone on to enjoy many successful tenures while competing at the event with different competitors.

The most successful racer in the event's history is Thunder Snow, who remains the only thoroughbred to win multiple events. The Irish-bred horse won consecutive races in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Thunder Snow's success across those two monumental years can also be significantly attributed to respected ownership group Godolphin Racing and trainer Saeed bin Suroor, who have claimed the most wins as an owner and trainer with nine victories each.

The most successful jockey at the event is tied between the aforementioned Jerry Bailey, who won four events in 1996, 1997, 2001, and 2002, before Frankie Dettori matched his total winnings with previous success in 2000, 2003, 2006, and more recently, 2022.

Dettori also holds the record for setting the fastest completion time in the event's history as Dubai Millennium completed the 2,000-meter length track in just 1 minute, 59 seconds and 50 milliseconds back in 2000, which narrowly beats out Invasor's showing in 2007 by just 47 milliseconds.

The most recent winner of the event in 2024 saw Laurel River from the USA complete the track in 2 minutes and two seconds with jockey Tadhg O'Shea and trainer Bhupat Seemar, which pocketed a $12 million winning purse through a record-setting 8 ½ lengths, with the 2025 event set to get underway on April 5 next year with fans already clamoring for the event's return following a dramatic 2024 showing, which will undoubtedly live long in the memory of racing fans for the foreseeable future.