Irish jockey will be onboard Eastern World and Ursa Minor
Ray Dawson has come a long way in a short amount of time. From never having ridden in Dubai until October of last year, he now finds himself with two rides on the biggest night of all.
Dawson, 28, will take the reins on Eastern World, who earned a spot in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (sponsored by Atlantis Dubai) with a superb first sprinting effort in the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal over course and distance. That was the crowning moment of a stellar first season for the jockey in Dubai in which he has ridden 21 winners, mostly for his main trainer, Ahmad Bin Harmash.
"It was a very special night for many reasons," he says of the win on Super Saturday. "The owner, Mohammed Al Subousi, has put lot of investment into horses this year so to have one going to the World Cup is a tremendous achievement."
Prior to March 5, Eastern World's biggest claim to fame was being a half-brother to dual Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow . Purchased by his trainer for AED220,000 in the September Racing In Dubai Sale, he was campaigned over a mile and further, failing to win, on his first four UAE runs.
"It wasn't expected that he was going to be going for the six-furlong race, that's for sure," says Dawson. "At the start of the year we expected that if he was good enough he might be going for the World Cup or the Mile, but as it's worked out he's turned out to have plenty of speed."
"He ran really well in the Listed race [Dubai Creek Mile, December 21] and we thought he was going to improve, possibly stay further, but then he was over racing. We tried to leave him alone and then that didn't work and he wasn't finishing off his races."
Then came the inspirational decision by Bin Harmash to drop in trip and add blinkers.
"This is why Ahmad trains horses," says the jockey. "He looked at it; obviously saw something in the horse, took a chance and it's paid off. It wasn't a fluke, he did it quite well."
Prior to that success Dawson had enjoyed plenty of wins at Meydan and the four other UAE tracks, including on Purebred Arabians, but a Dubai World Cup Carnival success had eluded him.
"As the Carnival nights were going on, I was thinking I wasn't going to get a Carnival winner – it's very difficult to do it," he says. "So to be able to achieve that on Super Saturday, I never expected that. It's a tremendous achievement for me and I'm delighted for the horse as well as he deserved that."
The jockey will also ride another Racing In Dubai Sale graduate, the rapidly-improving Ursa Minor, in the G1 Dubai Turf (sponsored by DP World), who was third in the G1 Jebel Hatta last time out.
"I was really impressed when he won [a 1900m turf handicap]," he says. "He really came into himself at home and was a different horse from at the start of the year. Obviously going into the race he was a 100/1 shot or something like that so there was no pressure. We were drawn well enough and there was no pace on and at one point I even thought I had a chance of winning, but it was an amazing run and he deserved to go up 17lbs because it was a proper Group 1 race."
Dawson, who last month won Ride Of The Season at the UK's prestigious Lester Awards, plans to enjoy some of the World Cup week events, with his fiancée Abbie and young daughter Lila in town to support him.
"I'm going to make the most of the week, take it all in. It's exciting and I'm really looking forward to it."
