The 2022-23 Meydan racing season will commence on Friday, 4 November 2022. It will be the first of 21 fixtures at the UAE’s premier racetrack.
Action at Meydan Racecourse will culminate in the 2023 edition of the $30.5 million Dubai World Cup meeting on Saturday, 25 March.
The 20th edition of the Dubai World Cup Carnival, which brings together horses, trainers and jockeys from all over the world, gets underway on Friday, 6 January.
An enhanced Carnival programme, with prizemoney totalling more than $7.5 million, will take place at Meydan Racecourse between January and March, culminating in ‘Super Saturday’ – the official dress rehearsal for the Dubai World Cup – on 4 March.
Established in 2004, the Carnival will feature several new races, including the $150,000 Thunder Snow Challenge, over 2000 metres on dirt. Another addition is the $150,000 Ipi Tombe Stakes, for fillies and mares on turf over 1,400 metres, which honours the Zimbabwe-bred mare who won the Dubai Duty Free tournament in 2003.
In total, there are 21 Group races for Thoroughbreds. Purebred Arabians have their share of the action, too, with a new race, the UAE Arabian Sprint Championship. The rest of the Arabian races have Group status, including three Group 1 legs of the Maktoum Challenge series.
The 2023 Carnival will also provide opportunities for handicappers, with 20 handicaps, divided between dirt and turf, complementing the pattern races and worth a minimum of $75,000 each. Meanwhile, the Jumeirah Turf Series for three-year-olds returns for a second season. Last year’s Jumeirah Derby winner, Nations Pride, went on to run in the G1 Cazoo Derby at Epsom in June.
