2014 Dubai World Cup

	19th Dubai World Cup; Meydan, 29 March 2014
	won by African Story (GB)

Last updated November 18, 2019

The 2014 Dubai World Cup was a horse race held at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday 29 March 2014. It was the 19th running of the Dubai World Cup.

Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been unchanged since at least classical antiquity.

Meydan Racecourse is a racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The grandstand is over a mile in length, and can accommodate over 60,000 spectators.

Dubai World Cup Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1996 and contested at the Meydan Racecourse

The Dubai World Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1996 and contested at the Meydan Racecourse (Arabic:ميدان) which in Arabic suggests a place where people congregate and compete, a sort of meeting point in the Emirate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The race is operated through the Emirates Racing Authority (ERA) whose Chairman is Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs of the United Arab Emirates. It offers nine races, consisting of eight Thoroughbred contests and one Purebred Arabian contest.

African Story is a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. Originally trained in France, he showed promise when racing on turf by winning twice and being placed in several important races before being transferred to race on Tapeta in Dubai in 2012. He won the Godolphin Mile in 2012 and the Burj Nahaar in both 2012 and 2013 before recording his most important success in the 2014 Dubai World Cup.

A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine, such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally-driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday working animal. The gerund and participle "gelding" and the infinitive "to geld" refer to the castration procedure itself.

Saeed bin Suroor, is a horse racing trainer. He took out his training license in 1993 and the following year was appointed as the trainer for Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation.

African Story had begun his racing career in France before being sent to race in Dubai and had won four of his eight races on the synthetic Tapeta surface at Meydan. He had also finished behind Animal Kingdom in the 2013 running of the Dubai World Cup. For the 2014 running of the race he started at odds of 12/1 and won by two and three quarter lengths from the British-trained Mukhadram with Cat O'Mountain (also running for Godolphin) four and a quarter lengths back in third. The 3/1 favourite Military Attack finished tenth of the sixteen runners.^[1]^[2]

Animal Kingdom is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 137th Kentucky Derby and the 2013 Dubai World Cup. His Derby win took place on May 7, 2011, before a record crowd of 164,858. After the Derby, Animal Kingdom finished second in the Preakness Stakes and sixth in the Belmont Stakes before his career was disrupted by injury. He returned to finish second in the 2012 Breeders' Cup Mile before winning the Dubai World Cup as a five-year-old in 2013. Animal Kingdom is the first Kentucky Derby winner to win a Grade 1 race at the age of five. He has won Grade 1 races on both dirt and synthetic surfaces.

Military Attack is an Irish-bred, Hong Kong trained Thoroughbred racehorse. Unraced as a two-year-old he showed promising form in Britain in 2011 before being sold to race in Hong Kong. He continued to show useful but unexceptional form before emerging as a dominant middle-distance performer in the early part of 2013, winning the January Cup, Hong Kong Gold Cup, Premier Plate, Queen Elizabeth II Cup and Singapore Airlines International Cup. In July 2013 at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Champion Awards, he won three awards including the title of Hong Kong Horse of the Year.

Race details

Sponsor: Emirates Airline
Purse: £6,024,096; First prize: £3,614,457
Surface: Tapeta
Going: Standard
Distance: 10 furlongs
Number of runners: 16
Winner's time: 2:01.61

Full result

Pos.	Marg.	Horse (bred)	Age	Jockey	Trainer (Country)	Odds
1		African Story (GB)	7	Silvestre de Sousa	Saeed bin Suroor (GB/UAE)	12/1
2	2¾	Mukhadram (GB)	5	Paul Hanagan	William Haggas (GB)	14/1
3	4¼	Cat O'Mountain (USA)	4	Mickael Barzalona	Charlie Appleby (GB/UAE)	25/1
4	¾	Side Glance (GB)	7	Jamie Spencer	Andrew Balding (GB)	33/1
5	hd	Akeed Mofeed (GB)	5	Douglas Whyte	Richard Gibson (HK)	8/1
6	nse	Red Cadeaux (GB)	8	Gerald Mosse	Ed Dunlop (GB)	16/1
7	1¼	Sanshaawes (SAF)	5	Christophe Soumillon	Mike de Kock (SAF)	12/1
8	2¼	Vancouverite (GB)	4	William Buick	Charlie Appleby (GB/UAE)	16/1
9	nk	Prince Bishop (IRE)	7	Kieren Fallon	Saeed bin Suroor (GB/UAE)	8/1
10	1¼	Military Attack (IRE)	6	Joao Moreira	John Moore (HK)	3/1 fav
11	2	Belshazzar (JPN)	6	Christophe Lemaire	Kunihide Matsuda (JPN)	16/1
12	1½	Ron The Greek (USA)	6	Jose Lezcano	N. Bachalard (KSA)	25/1
13	hd	Ruler of the World (IRE)	4	Joseph O'Brien	Aidan O'Brien (IRE)	6/1
14	½	Hillstar (GB)	4	Ryan Moore	Michael Stoute (GB)	14/1
15	1½	Surfer (USA)	5	Richard Mullen	Satish Seemar (UAE)	40/1
16	2½	Hokko Tarumae (JPN)	5	Hideaki Miyuki	Katsuichi Nishiura (JPN)	16/1

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

Winner's details

Further details of the winner, African Story

Sex: Gelding
Foaled: 10 March 2007
Country: United Kingdom
Sire: Pivotal; Dam: Blixen (Gone West)
Owner: Godolphin
Breeder: Darley Stud

Pivotal is a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career restricted to six races between October 1995 and August 1996 he established himself as one of the leading sprinters in Europe. His most important wins came in the King's Stand Stakes and the Nunthorpe Stakes as a three-year-old in the summer of 1996. He was then retired to stud where he became an exceptionally successful breeding stallion.

Gone West was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by William O. Reed, he was a son of the influential sire Mr. Prospector. His dam, Secrettame, was a daughter of 1973 U.S. Triple Crown winner Secretariat.

Darley Stud is located at Dalham Hall, the global breeding operation owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates. It is on the outskirts of Newmarket, Suffolk, the international headquarters and historic home of thoroughbred horse racing.

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References

↑ "Dubai World Cup result". Racing Post. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
↑ "African Story springs surprise to win Dubai World Cup for Godolphin". Guardian. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.

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[1] "Dubai World Cup result". Racing Post. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-02.

[2] "African Story springs surprise to win Dubai World Cup for Godolphin". Guardian. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.