DUBAI: The Dubai World Cup will return to Meydan Racecourse on Saturday with a record international television footprint, as organizers position the 30th running of the event before a global audience and a field drawn from more than a dozen countries. Dubai Racing Club said the race meeting will be carried live by 40 broadcasters, extending the reach of one of horse racing’s richest and most widely watched fixtures at a time when the sport’s top stables are converging on the emirate.
The meeting offers total prize money of $30.5 million across nine races, with the $12 million Dubai World Cup, sponsored by Emirates, serving as the headline event on a card that also includes several major international contests. The purse and the breadth of the program have helped cement the race day as a central date on the global flat racing calendar, drawing horses, trainers and jockeys from established racing centers in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America.
Organizers said the scale of the international broadcast operation reflects the stature the Dubai World Cup has built since its launch in 1996. Dubai Racing Club has worked with Racecourse Media Group and HBA Media on distribution, while the world feed is being produced with presentation led by Nick Luck and Rishi Persad. Published distribution figures have varied, with official event material citing coverage in more than 150 countries and other published estimates placing the reach at 170.
Global Broadcast Reach
The coverage plan spans Asia, Australasia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, with broadcasters taking either a full world feed, a track feed for localized presentation or a condensed live package built around the marquee races. Organizers have also highlighted distribution through in flight and maritime sports platforms, broadening access beyond conventional television markets. That expanded footprint is intended to match the event’s international field and the scale of the race day’s commercial and sporting profile.
Dubai Racing Club Chief Executive Ali Al Ali said the milestone edition of the Dubai World Cup underlined both Dubai’s place in international racing and the event’s continued appeal to broadcasters and viewers worldwide. Event partners have said the distribution network for the 2026 running is the widest in the history of the race, while emphasizing the role of television and digital platforms in extending the meeting’s audience across continents on the same night.
Milestone Running
This year’s edition carries added significance as the 30th running of the race, a landmark that comes with renewed attention on the quality of the field as well as the scale of the production around the meeting. Among the leading names highlighted ahead of the card are Japan’s Forever Young, who arrives after winning the Saudi Cup, and France based Calandagan, whose late 2025 form elevated his profile among the highest rated horses expected to compete at Meydan.
The Dubai World Cup has long served as both a sporting contest and a global showcase for Dubai’s racing infrastructure, with Meydan providing the backdrop for one of the most lucrative nights in the sport. With a nine race program, major international contenders and a broadcast operation stretching across every region, the 2026 meeting is set to again bring worldwide attention to the city and to one of the signature events on the international horse racing calendar. – By Content Syndication Services.