2015 Dubai World Cup

	20th Dubai World Cup; Meydan, 28 March 2015
	won by Prince Bishop (GB)

Last updated July 17, 2019

The 2015 Dubai World Cup was a horse race held at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday 28 March 2015. It was the 20th running of the Dubai World Cup. It was the first running of the race since the synthetic Tapeta surface was replaced by a dirt track.

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.

Prince Bishop is an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. He began his racing career in France as a three-year-old where he won the Prix du Prince d'Orange and the Prix du Conseil de Paris in 2010. He was later transferred to Dubai where he was based at Meydan Racecourse. He made occasional returns to compete in Europe and won the September Stakes in both 2013 and 2014. In March 2015 he won the world's most valuable race, the Dubai World Cup.

Bay is a hair coat color of horses, characterized by a brown body color with a black mane, tail, ear edges, and lower legs. Bay is one of the most common coat colors in many horse breeds.

The contenders

The return to dirt saw a strong North American challenge, headed by the American Horse of the Year California Chrome, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. The other runners from the United States were Lea, the six-year-old winner of the 2014 Donn Handicap and the four-year-old Candy Boy (Robert B. Lewis Stakes), who had recently been transferred to race for a UAE-based stable. The two-horse Saeed bin Suroor/ Godolphin entry comprised African Story (winner of the race in 2014) and Prince Bishop, who was contesting the race for the fourth time, having finished tenth in 2011, seventh in 2013 and ninth in 2014. Japan sent two representatives; Hokku Tarumae, a dirt specialist who had won the Champions Cup and been named Champion Dirt Horse at the JRA Awards, and the Japan Cup winner Epiphaneia, rated the second-best racehorse in the world in the 2014 World's Best Racehorse Rankings. The sole European runner was the much-travelled British eight-year-old Side Glance (whose biggest win had come in the 2013 Mackinnon Stakes) and the nine-runner field was completed by the locally trained American import Long River. Betting is illegal in Dubai, but British bookmakers made California Chrome the 5/4 favourite ahead of Lea (4/1) and Epiphaneia (13/2). African Story and Hokku Tarumae were next in the market on 8/1 ahead of the 14/1 shot Prince Bishop.^[1]

The American Award for Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to sanction the various awards, "Horse of the Year" is not an official national award.

California Chrome is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was named the 2014 and 2016 American Horse of the Year. He won the 2014 Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the 2016 Dubai World Cup. In 2016, he surpassed Curlin as the all-time leading North American horse in earnings won.

Kentucky Derby American stakes race for Thoroughbreds, part of the Triple Crown

The Kentucky Derby is a horse race that is held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles (2.0 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds and fillies 121 pounds.

The race

Hokko Tarumae broke quickly and set the pace in the early stages from African Story, California Chrome (racing four wide) and Long River with Prince Bishop detached from the rest of the field in last place. The Japanese horse maintained his advantage on the back straight and approached the final turn with the lead from California Chrome, African Story and Lea as Prince Bishop made rapid progress on the outside. By this point Long River, Side Glance and Epiphaneia were beaten, whilst Candy Boy was staying on but well behind the leading five. Entering the straight, California Chrome moved up to challenge Hokko Tarumae, but both horses were overtaken by Prince Bishop who quickly went into a clear lead. In the final stages Hokko Tarumae and African Story faded whilst Lea and Candy Boy made steady progress. Prince Bishop extended his advantage to win by two and three quarter lengths from California Chrome, with Lea one and quarter lengths back in third. There was a five length gap back to Candy Boy, who took fourth by a short head from Hokko Tarumae, with another four lengths back to African Story. Long River, Side Glance and Epiphaneia finished seventh, eighth and ninth at long intervals.^[2]

Race details

Sponsor: Emirates Airline
Purse: £6,410,256; First prize: £3,846,153.
Surface: Dirt
Going: Fast
Distance: 10 furlongs
Number of runners: 9
Winner's time: 2:03.24

Full result

Pos.	Marg.	Horse (bred)	Age	Jockey	Trainer (Country)	Odds
1		Prince Bishop (IRE)	8	William Buick	Saeed bin Suroor (GB/UAE)	14/1
2	2¾	California Chrome (USA)	4	Victor Espinoza	Art Sherman (USA)	5/4 fav
3	1¼	Lea (USA)	6	Joel Rosario	Bill Mott (USA)	4/1
4	5¼	Candy Boy (USA)	4	Pat Dobbs	Doug Watson (UAE)	25/1
5	shd	Hokko Tarumae (JPN)	6	Hideaki Miyuki	Katsuichi Nishiura (JPN)	8/1
6	4	African Story (GB)	8	James Doyle	Saeed bin Suroor (GB/UAE)	8/1
7	14½	Long River (USA)	5	Mickael Barzalona	S bin Ghadayer (UAE)	66/1
8	8½	Side Glance (GB)	8	Andrea Atzeni	Andrew Balding (GB)	33/1
9	7	Epiphaneia (JPN)	5	Christophe Soumillon	Katsuhiko Sumii (JPN)	13/2

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

Winner's details

Further details of the winner, Prince Bishop

Sex: Gelding
Foaled: 10 February 2007
Country: Ireland
Sire: Dubawi; Dam: North East Bay (Prospect Bay)
Owner: Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum
Breeder: Thurso Ltd

Dubawi is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire.

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References

↑ "Dubai World Cup result". Racing Post. 28 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-02.
↑ Greg Wood. "Prince Bishop wins Dubai World Cup from hot favourite California Chrome". The Guardian .

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[1] "Dubai World Cup result". Racing Post. 28 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-02.

[2] Greg Wood. "Prince Bishop wins Dubai World Cup from hot favourite California Chrome". The Guardian .