Favorite California Chrome draws outside post for Dubai World Cup

Inside post positions haven't served California Chrome well. Racing for part of a $10 million purse in Saturday's Dubai World Cup, the reigning Horse of the Year won't have to worry about another.

The 2014 Kentucky Derby winner will break from the outside in a nine-horse field, made an 6-5 morning line favorite for the World Cup, where he'll seek his first win on dirt since last year's Preakness Stakes.

California Chrome fell short of a Triple Crown bid after drawing the No. 2 post for the Belmont Stakes. He then finished off the board in the Pennsylvania Derby from the inside.

Though the Meydan Racecourse's rail is known to be live, "Our perfect trip has been to sit up close on the outside with a target in front of us," trainer Art Sherman said.

Donn Handicap runner-up Lea, the other shipper who recently arrived in Dubai, is the 4-1 second choice from post 5. Defending race-winner African Story will break from the 3rd post, with another 2014 Derby runner, Candy Boy, coming from No. 6.

"We're going to give it our best," said Lea's trainer, Bill Mott, who won the first Dubai World Cup in 1996 with Cigar. "He (California Chrome) is a very good horse who of course was Horse of the Year, which is the biggest prize you can get I suppose.

"He's well thought of but we like our horse as well. I don't know a lot about the Japanese horses. We have nothing to compare them to."

California Chrome has won three times on a synthetic surface and once on turf -- his final victory last November in Del Mar's Hollywood Derby. Sherman said the Meydan Racecourse's switch to dirt this year attracted the 4-year-old colt's connections.

"I don't know if we would have come if it were the old (all-weather)," Sherman said. "He likes a firm dirt track and to hear his feet rattle a little bit, and don't forget a $10 million purse has a nice ring to it."

Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the Dubai World Cup at 12:30 p.m. Saturday

Dubai World Cup

Post time: Saturday at 1 p.m. ET at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. Purse: $10 million. Distance: 1 1/4 miles. TV: Fox Sports 1.

PP horse (weight) jockey/trainer odds

1. Prince Bishop (125) Buick/Suroor 14-1

2. Hokko Tarumae (125) Miyuki/Nishiurs 10-1

3. African Story (125) Doyle/Suroor 7-1

4. Side Glance (125) Atzeni/Balding 25-1

5. Lea (125) Rosario/Mott 4-1

6. Candy Boy (125) Dobbs/Watson 12-1

7. Long River (125) Barzalona/Ghadayer 40-1

8. Epiphaneia (125) Soumillon/Sumii 7-1

9. California Chrome (125) Espinoza/Sherman 6-5