Dubai World Cup 2022: Odds, free PPs, U.S. runners to watch

Life Is Good made one of the first big statements of the racing season Jan. 29 when he scored an authoritative win over 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go. Now he will aim Saturday to score the winner’s share of an eight-figure purse.

The Todd Pletcher-trained Life Is Good (4-5) is favored on the international morning line for the Group 1, $12 million Dubai World Cup. Post time from Meydan Racecourse is 12:30 p.m. EDT, with FS2 airing the 1¼-mile event for older dirt routers.

Life Is Good is 6-for-7 lifetime, with his most recent win two months ago at Gulfstream Park in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1). He moved out to an uncontested lead entering the first turn, widened his advantage to 4½ lengths by the top of the stretch, then scored by 3¼ lengths over runner-up Knicks Go.

The 4-year-old Into Mischief colt drilled at Pletcher’s Palm Beach Downs winter base before shipping to the Middle East. He will break from post position No. 1 under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.

Hot Rod Charlie (3-1) prepped for the Dubai World Cup by winning a Group 2 race over the Meydan surface Feb. 4. Doug O’Neill trains the 2021 Pennsylvania Derby (G1) hero, whose other graded-stakes results include a second-place finish last June in the Belmont Stakes.

Country Grammer (8-1) for trainer Bob Baffert and Midnight Bourbon (10-1) for trainer Steve Asmussen run Saturday off finishes of second and third, respectively, Feb. 26 in the Saudi Cup (G1). The former owns a Grade 1 score from last May’s Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes, while the latter has not won since January 2021 in the Lecomte Stakes (G3).

As for international runners, none carry a price on the morning line shorter than the 20-1 shared by Hypothetical, Magny Cours and Real World. Magny Cours and Real World finished 10th and 11th, respectively, in the Saudi Cup.

The U.S. notched a win in the 2021 Dubai World Cup thanks to the Michael Stidham-trained Mystic Guide. Arrogate (2017), California Chrome (2016) and Animal Kingdom (2013) are the other American runners to score a victory in this event over the last decade.

Here is a look at the field for the 2022 Dubai World Cup (trainer and jockey in parentheses) with international morning-line odds. Horses are listed first by program number, then by post position:

1, 2. Aero Term (Antonio Cintra, Vagner Leal), 60-1

2, 3. Chuwa Wizard (Ryuji Okubo, Yuga Kawada), 30-1

3, 5. Country Grammer (Bob Baffert, Frankie Dettori), 8-1

4, 4. Grocer Jack (William Haggas, Tom Marquand), 30-1

5, 7. Hot Rod Charlie (Doug O’Neill, Flavien Prat), 3-1

6, 10. Hypothetical (Salem bin Ghadayer, Mickael Barzalona), 20-1

7, 1. Life Is Good (Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr), 4-5

8, 9. Magny Cours (Andre Fabre, William Buick), 20-1

9, 8. Midnight Bourbon (Steve Asmussen, Jose Ortiz), 10-1

10, 6. Real World (Saeed bin Suroor, Christophe Soumillon), 20-1

11, 11. Remorse (Bhupat Seemar, Tadhg O’Shea), 30-1

Other U.S. runners

Here is a look the other U.S.-based horses competing Saturday in Dubai World Cup undercard events. Post times for their races, which can be seen on FS2, are EDT.

8:20 a.m. – $1 million Godolphin Mile (G2), 3-and-up, one mile

Bankit (10-1) is a five-time stakes winner on U.S. soil and now goes overseas for trainer Steve Asmussen in search of a first graded or group score. Jose Ortiz will ride the New York-bred, 6-year-old son of Central Banker. Bankit is joined by stablemate Snapper Sinclair (12-1), a fellow hard-knocking stakes winner who ran fourth in the 2021 Godolphin Mile.

9:35 a.m. – $1.5 million Al Quoz Sprint (G1), 3-and-up, six furlongs (turf)

Casa Creed (15-1) stays in the Middle East for trainer Bill Mott off a second-place finish Feb. 26 on the Saudi Cup card in the 1351 Turf Sprint Cup (G3). Jockey Luis Saez will be aboard the Grade 1-winning, 6-year-old son of Jimmy Creed. Mark Casse trains Get Smokin (30-1), a Grade 2 victor who was runner up Feb. 5 in the Tampa Bay Stakes (G3).

10:10 a.m. – $1 million UAE Derby (G2), 3-year-olds, 1 3/16 miles

Pinehurst (3-1), with jockey Flavien Prat up, leads a U.S. trio in this race that awards Road to the Kentucky Derby points on a 100-40-20-10 basis to its top four finishers. The Twirling Candy colt enters off a Saudi Derby (G3) win Feb. 26 but is ineligible for the Kentucky Derby points at stake Saturday due to trainer Bob Baffert’s two-year Churchill Downs suspension. Mott trains Gilded Age (10-1), who finished third Feb. 5 at Aqueduct in the Withers Stakes (G3). Get Back Goldie (30-1), a former claimer trained by Doug O’Neill, has raced twice at Meydan and was sixth March 5 in his last start.

10:45 a.m. – $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1), 3-and-up, six furlongs

Dr. Schivel (3-1), the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up, runs for the third top-level score of his career. Mark Glatt trains and Prat will pilot the 4-year-old Violence colt, who starts for the first time since finishing seventh Dec. 26 at Santa Anita in the Malibu Stakes (G1). Saffie Joseph Jr. trains Drain the Clock (5-1), another Grade 1 winner who ships off a second-place finish Feb. 19 in the Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes. Wondrwherecraigis (8-1) has earned back-to-back wins for trainer Brittany Russell, with his most recent the Fire Plug Stakes on Jan. 29 at Laurel Park. O’Neill trains Strongconstitution (15-1), a stakes winner who was fifth March 5 in a Group 3 event at Meydan.

11:20 a.m. – $5 million Dubai Turf (G1), 3-and-up, 1 1/8 miles (turf)

Colonel Liam (7-1) joins Life Is Good as Todd Pletcher trainees looking Saturday to build on Pegasus glory. The 5-year-old won Gulfstream’s Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) on Jan. 29 for the second straight season and has three Grade 1 wins on his ledger. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. stays aboard the son of Liam’s Map. One race later, 2021 Eclipse Award champion Yibir (3-1) leads the $6 million Dubai Sheema Classic (G1) at 1½ miles on the turf – the same distance at which he won the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.