Horse Racing: Our Favorites to Win the 2025 Dubai World Cup
by Joseph King | by Cydias Aujard
Dubai World Cup: A Lavish Spectacle
While not yet at the heights of iconic events such as the Kentucky Derby and the Grand National, the Dubai World Cup has steadily been growing since its founding in 1996. It has now become one of the most anticipated race days on the calendar and is highly regarded both for its spectacle as well as its high-octane action on the racetrack. Find out more about the most popular horse racing events here!
The race is staged on a 2000 meter dirt track at the Meydan Racecourse in Dubai and carries a purse of $12 million. Let’s take a look at some of the most notable entrants that will be competing for the prize.
The Top Contenders
Forever Young:
Winner of the 2025 Saudi Cup, Forever Young is the horse to beat coming into the 2025 Dubai World Cup. The Japanese-bred colt has an impressive lineage, with his sire Real Steel winning the 2016 Dubai Turf and legendary grandsire Deep Impact winning the Japanese Triple Crown in 2005.
Forever Young has won nine of 11 starts en route to amassing over $14 million in career earnings and is trained by Yoshito Yahagi while being jockeyed by Ryusei Sakai. Unsurprisingly, Forever Young is attracting the most public action so far as is the consensus favorite at many of the best online betting sites with odds of roughly 8/13.
Imperial Emperor:
Imperial Emperor is considered the top challenger to take on Forever Young at the 2025 Dubai World Cup. The five-year-old gelding, who is trained by Bhupat Seemar and is ridden by multiple UAE champion jockey Tadhg O’Shea, has a record of five wins, one second place and one third-place finish in 10 events entered.
Imperial Emperor’s 2025 results include a second-place finish in Group 1 of the Al Maktoum Challenge and a convincing win in Group 2 at the Al Maktoum Classic. These were both held at the Meydan with the latter seeing Imperial Emperor quality for the Dubai World Cup. Imperial Emperor comes in with odds of around 5/1 to win.
Walk of Stars:
Coming in at post three is Walk of Stars, a six-year-old gelding from the United Kingdom. This horse shares its lineage with the previously mentioned Imperial Emperor, who are both sired by the renowned thoroughbred Dubawi. Walk of Stars is also trained by Bhupat Seemar but is set to be ridden by jockey Mickael Barzalona, with Seemar’s first-choice jockey O’Shea opting to ride stablemate Imperial Emperor.
A disappointing 12th-place finish in the recent Saudi Cup has damaged his odds ahead of the Dubai World Cup. Walk of Stars comes into this race as the third-favorite at most books with odds of 15/2.
Ushba Tesoro:
Ushba Tesoro, an eight-year-old stallion out of Japan, is the oldest and most experienced horse in the Dubai World Cup main race. Trained by Noboru Takagi, Ushba Tesoro has an impressive pedigree with his sire, Orfevre, winning the Japanese Triple Crown in 2011.
This horse has also experienced success on dirt, including at this very track where he won the 2023 edition of the Dubai World Cup. That makes the experienced stallion a dangerous dark horse who could be good value at odds of around 10/1.
Our Favorites to Win the Dubai World Cup
Forever Young is deservedly priced as the significant favorite and for good reason. The four-year-old colt proved his pedigree by running down Romantic Warrior on the 1800 meter dirt track to win February’s Saudi Cup. The lineage of Deep Impact and Real Steel equips Forever Young with elite stamina, which will likely factor in given the 2000m distance of this race.
Ultimately, Forever Young is a safe choice to win the Dubai World Cup. He has a perfect record when racing in Japan and the Middle East (his only two losses came on US soil) and is coming up against a relatively weak field.
