Race

Dubai Turf

Run since 1996

  • Grade: G1
  • Distance: 1.800 m
  • Surface: Turf
  • Racetrack: Meydan
  • Traditional month: March
  • Age: 3+ y/o
  • Eligibility: Open
  • Sponsor: DP World

The Dubai Turf is the Group 1 mile turf race of Dubai World Cup Night, run every March at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai over 1,800 metres. Inaugurated in 1996 as the Dubai Duty Free, it is one of the richest turf races in the world, with a purse of six million US dollars.


Commercial details & record

Current purse
$6,000,000 (2026 data)
Sponsor
DP World
Weight scale
Northern Hemisphere 4-year-olds and up: 57 kg. Southern Hemisphere 3-year-olds: 54.5 kg. Southern Hemisphere 4-year-olds and up: 57 kg. 2 kg allowance for fillies and mares.

Race record

1:45.52

Set on 2014


Historical record

31 editions on record

  • 2026
    Winner: Ombudsman(draft)

    Jockey: William Buick(draft)

    Trainer: John Gosden(draft)

    Venue: Meydan Racecourse

    Quinta victoria histórica de Godolphin como propietario.

  • 2025
    Winner: Soul Rush(draft)

    Jockey: Cristian Demuro(draft)

    Trainer: Yasutoshi Ikee(draft)

    Venue: Meydan Racecourse

  • 2024
    Winner: Facteur Cheval(draft)

    Jockey: Maxime Guyon(draft)

    Trainer: Jerome Reynier(draft)

    Venue: Meydan Racecourse

    Edición marcada por la lesión fatal de Catnip en la recta final, eutanasiado en pista. Christophe Lemaire fue trasladado al hospital.

  • 2023
    Winner: Lord North(draft)

    Jockey: Frankie Dettori(draft)

    Trainer: John Gosden(draft)

    Venue: Meydan Racecourse

    Tercer triunfo consecutivo. Récord de victorias de la prueba (3).

  • 2022
    Winner: Lord North(draft)

    Jockey: Frankie Dettori(draft)

    Trainer: John Gosden(draft)

    Venue: Meydan Racecourse

    Empate técnico (dead-heat) con Panthalassa (Yutaka Yoshida / Yoshito Yahagi).

  • 2021
    Winner: Lord North(draft)

    Jockey: Frankie Dettori(draft)

    Trainer: John Gosden(draft)

    Venue: Meydan Racecourse

  • 2020
    Cancelada por la pandemia de COVID-19.
  • 2019
    Winner: Almond Eye(draft)

    Jockey: Christophe Lemaire(draft)

    Trainer: Sakae Kunieda(draft)

    Venue: Meydan Racecourse

  • 2018
    Winner: Benbatl(draft)

    Jockey: Oisin Murphy(draft)

    Trainer: Saeed bin Suroor(draft)

    Venue: Meydan Racecourse

  • 2017
    Winner: Vivlos(draft)

    Jockey: João Moreira(draft)

    Trainer: Yasuo Tomomichi(draft)

    Venue: Meydan Racecourse


Race history

The Dubai Turf is the Group 1 mile turf race of Dubai World Cup Night, run every March at Meydan Racecourse. Its first edition was held in 1996 on dirt at Nad Al Sheba, over 2,000 metres and under the name Dubai Duty Free, sponsored by the airport duty-free chain of the same name.

In 2000 it moved to turf and was shortened to 1,777 metres. It attained international Group 1 status in 2002 and has been the second leg of the Asian Mile Challenge since 2006. With the opening of the new Meydan Racecourse in 2010 the race moved to its current home and adopted its definitive distance of 1,800 metres. In 2015 DP World signed the current sponsorship agreement and the race was renamed Dubai Turf. The 2020 running was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The race is open to Northern Hemisphere four-year-olds and up and Southern Hemisphere three-year-olds and up, with a two-kilo allowance for fillies and mares. The current purse is six million US dollars, placing it alongside the Dubai Sheema Classic among the richest turf races worldwide.

The standing course record was set by Just A Way (JPN) in 2014 with a time of 1:45.52, ridden by Yuichi Fukunaga for trainer Naosuke Sugai. The horse with the most wins is Lord North, victorious three years in a row (2021, 2022 and 2023) under Frankie Dettori for John and Thady Gosden. Dettori is also the leading jockey with four wins, while Saeed bin Suroor leads trainers with six and Godolphin leads owners with five. Japanese-trained horses have won the race six times —Admire Moon (2007), Just A Way (2014), Real Steel (2016), Vivlos (2017), Almond Eye (2019) and Soul Rush (2025)—, reflecting the importance of the international mile programme for Japanese exports.


Sources

Citations backing the data on this profile. Each row links to the original source.


Data loaded manually with visible citation when a source is available. The historical record fills edition by edition as sources are verified.

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