A distant third in the Santa Anita Handicap five weeks ago, Hit Show ran the race of his life and won the $12 million Dubai World Cup by about a half-length on Saturday at Meydan Racecourse.
Trainer Brad Cox took down a World Cup with his first runner in the race, a 5-year-old, 41-1 shot who was making his 18th start and never had won above the Grade 2 level.
Florent Geroux, also winning his first World Cup, steered Hit Show inside in the homestretch and then maneuvered outside the two pacesetters, Walk of Stars and Mixto, getting up in the final 50 yards over Mixto, who had put away Walk of Stars with a half-furlong remaining. Mixto, winner of the Pacific Classic last summer, finished second for trainer Doug O’Neill, with odds-on favorite Forever Young beating out Walk of Stars for third in a subpar showing.
Hit Show has held solid form for several years, finishing fifth in the 2023 Kentucky Derby, but last year, at age 4, Cox kept him in second and third tier graded-stakes races, even sending Hit Show to Mountaineer Park to win the West Virginia Governor’s Cup. Wathnan Racing bought the horse from Gary and Mary West last year, and after Hit Show had won the Louisiana Stakes on Jan. 18 at Fair Grounds, Cox said the goal for 2025 was to knock out a Grade 1 at some point. The Santa Anita Handicap seemed a winnable spot, until Locked showed up and dominated, beating Hit Show by a dozen lengths. Instead, Hit Show traveled to the Middle East for Qatari-based Wathnan and won the second-richest race in the world.
Hit Show broke well enough Saturday but lacks early speed, Geroux settling him into eighth around the first turn and down the backstretch, Hit Show racing in the bridle but not pulling while traveling comfortably. A wall of horses in front of him around the second turn, Geroux had to bide his time, eventually steering left coming out of the turn, finding a spot to begin his run. Hit Show steadily gained momentum, but with just a furlong remaining still had at least four lengths to make up on Mixto and Walk of Stars. He did just that, knifing outside Mixto with a strong final push while finishing faster than the vaunted favorite, Forever Young.
Mixto, fourth by more than eighth lengths last out in the Pegasus World Cup in Florida, nearly gave O’Neill his second winner on the card following Raging Torrent’s tally in the Godolphin Mile. Volleying for the lead throughout the 1 1/4-mile World Cup with Dubai-based Walk of Stars – whose trainer, Bhupat Seemar, won this race a year ago with Laurel River – Mixto ran to the peak of his form, as well, but was not quite good enough.
Forever Young ran nowhere near his best as the 1-2 favorite. Earlier on the card, Romantic Warrior finished second as the 1-5 favorite in the Dubai Turf, and it’s fair to wonder whether the epic battle between Forever Young and Romantic Warrior, the former up by a neck over the latter, in the Saudi Cup on Feb. 22 took the starch out of both horses. Forever Young broke well enough Saturday and stalked the pace from fourth and fifth, but was asked to make up ground into and around the far turn and could not do so, finally getting untracked to some extent in the final furlong, but outfinished by Hit Show, a horse heretofore nowhere near his equal.
Walk of Stars held on for fourth, with American longshot Il Miracolo a more than respectable fifth. Then came 2023 World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro, Wilson Tesoro, Rattle N Roll, Ramjet, Katonah, and Imperial Emperor. Winning time for the 2,000 meters was 2:03.50, and Hit Show paid $84.60.
Bred by the Wests, Hit Show is by Candy Ride out of Actress, by Tapit. He won for the ninth time in 18 starts. The World Cup is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series and Hit Show earned automatic fees-paid entries into the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Cox, a two-time Eclipse Award winner, came into Saturday already having sent out eight graded-stakes winners in 2025. His horses in such races are more often 4-5 than 41-1. Hit Show, nonetheless, hit the mark at Meydan.
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