2012 Dubai World Cup

The 2012 Dubai World Cup meeting is poised to see quite a few firsts and that might also be the case with the UAE Derby (Group 2) — which could see a new trainer winning it other than Saeed Bin Surour and Mike de Kock.
Bin Surour has won the Derby seven times but does not have a runner this year, while de Kock, who has won it the remaining five times, saddles Dubawi colt Mickdaam.
Mickdaam won the prep race — the Al Bastakiya — rather smartly which will boost the South African trainer to hope for a sixth UAE Derby win.
But Godolphin's Australian base makes a debut with the highly-rated Helmet handled by Peter Snowden while Aidan O'Brien's Wrote, winner of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs in Kentucky last November, has caught the eye of the odds-makers. Wrote will however have to answer two big questions — whether he can handle the distance as his three wins in five career starts have all been over a mile and under while O'Brien's runner will also be running on the all-weather surface for the first time. If Wrote can handle the distance and surface from what is not a very encouraging stall 13, he could take all the beating.