Check out the five main contenders for Saturday’s Dubai World Cup

West Coast heads the betting

The Dubai World Cup is the feature contest on a nine-race card from Meydan on Saturday night.

Up to 10 runners will line-up for the 23rd iteration of the 10f renewal which concludes the richest day in horse racing.

The Coral News Team have previewed the main event by looking at the five main contenders for this year’s race.

West Coast

Arrogate won this contest for trainer Bob Baffert for the first time in 2017. Now the 65-year-old is back with another favourite – West Coast. The four-year-old raider has not won since dominating Irap in the Pennsylvania Derby back in September 2017.

Since then he has been touched off by Gun Runner twice over both 1m 2f and 1m 1f. The son of Flatter won’t have to deal with the Pegasus World Cup winner this time, though. And with a slight reduction in trip also adding to his cause, West Coast is a worthy favourite once again for Baffert.

Talismanic

Andre Fabre’s charge is currently considered the most likely challenger to the jolly. He’s been hitting the frame consistently in France and recently saw off favourite Cloth of Stars to win the Prix Darshaan at Chantilly.

The five-year-old’s black-type form doesn’t make for overly impressive reading. Although a 14/1 victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf is evidence of what he is capable of. The reduction in trip makes the British-bred raider an interesting proposition in Dubai.

North America

Trained by Satish Seemar, North America is the home favourite at Meydan. The six-year-old has won five from eight around the course since transferring from Charlie Appleby in 2016. He tends to favour the 1m distance, so the 1m¼f afforded to him here should be to his liking.