Bailey, Dettori Dominate in Dubai
Two Jockeys Lead UAE World Cup Classic With Seven Total Wins
Jerry Bailey retired with an all-time leading win record of four victories in World Cup Classic races. Frankie Dettori, still riding, has three UAE triumphs.
Seven of the 12 Dubai World Cup Classic races have been won by Jerry Bailey (four) and Frankie Dettori (three). These two jockeys have dominated the Dubai racing festival in partnership with such horses as Cigar, Electrocutionist, Singspiel, and Street Cry, as well as others.
Jerry Bailey, second on the all-time career leading money winners list and second to none in skill during his years as a professional Thoroughbred rider, won the inaugural Dubai World Cup Classic at United Arab Emirates' Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in 1996 aboard the unstoppable Cigar.
In his racing career in the 1990s, Cigar, with Bailey as his rider, tied the 16 consecutive win streak of the immortal Triple Crown champion Citation, won the Breeders' Cup Classic (1995), as well as the Dubai Classic (1996), took Horse of the Year honors in both years, and in retirement learned to paint when it was found that he couldn't reproduce.
Bailey rode such winners as Grindstone, 1996 Kentucky Derby victor; Skip Away, 1998 Horse of the Year; Empire Maker, who successfully turned away Funny Cide's 2003 bid for a Triple Crown triumph; stakes champions Foolish Pleasure, Medaglia d'Oro, Sea Hero, and Red Bullet. He captured an astounding record 14 separate Breeders' Cup race championships.
But his crowning achievement is, perhaps, his four wins in Dubai against all world competition. After Cigar triumphed in the 1996 Dubai Classic with Bailey along for the ride, the jockey won again with Singspiel in 1997. Once more, Bailey mounted back-to-back wins, in 2001 with Captain Steve, a heavy American favorite, and in 2002 with Irish-bred Street Cry (eventual daddy to 2007's Kentucky Derby winner, Street Sense).
While Bailey was an independent rider, Dettori has become a main contract rider for the powerful Godolphin Racing stable owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum. Godolphin has owned five Dubai Classic winners, and Dettori has ridden to victory on three of them.
Bailey's winners:
- 2002 - Street Cry (IRE)
- 2001 - Captain Steve (USA)
- 1997 - Singspiel (IRE)
- 1996 - Cigar (USA)
Dettori's three victors:
- 2000 - Dubai Millennium (GB)
- 2003 - Moon Ballad (IRE)
- 2006 - Electrocutionist
This season's Dubai festival is scheduled for March 29 at United Arab Emirates' Nad Al Sheba Racecourse and will feature American 2007 Horse of the Year, Curlin.
