2014 Dubai World Cup Promo Is ‘So Bad It’s Good’

March 31, 2014Leslie WylieUncategorized#RACINGLeave a comment

Direct quote from our friends at The Carrot, who unearthed this overblown and overwrought yet astonishingly pointless video.

I mean, there’s no telling how much money they spent on this thing. The narrator’s voice sounds familiar — I think it might be the guy from the Bud Light “Real Men of Genius” ad campaign. And is that the cast of 300?

Dubai Media Incorporated مؤسسة دبي للإعلام

It’s just so good.

The promo, in case you were confused by the montage of endurance horses at the end, was for the Dubai World Cup, which took place on Saturday evening. Billed as “the world’s richest race,” the $10 million Dubai World Cup was won by African Story, owned by — take a wild guess!!! — Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai and husband of FEI President HRH Princess Haya. It was the seventh time a horse belonging to the Sheikh has won the race.

Photo: From a press release, courtesy of Dubai Racing Club/Andrew Watkins

There was, of course, drama swirling around the event. The Guardian published a story yesterday investigating the absence of any U.S. horses in the World Cup, ostensibly because of Meydan’ track footing, a dark grey synthetic turf called Tapeta.

From the story:

What is also hard to deny is that the meeting needs to do something, and probably something quite dramatic, to address the declining number of runners from the US. It is a key aim of both the Sheikh’s Godolphin racing operation and the World Cup to advertise Dubai around the globe, and while there is a temptation to say that if the Americans do not want a share of $29m then that’s their problem, the US remains the largest racing industry of all. There were horses from 13 countries racing in Dubai on Saturday, but if the best of the Americans are happy to swerve the big race, is it really a World Cup?”

There is some talk of replacing the Tapeta with dirt, favored by American horses and trainers, or raising the purse even higher to attract the world’s top horses.