Female jockey, filly take crack at riches

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The $10 million Dubai World Cup has a favorite in So You Think, and also a sentimental choice in Game On Dude.

So You Think, bred in New Zealand, is the 5-2 favorite heading into the world’s richest horse race on Saturday. But Kentucky-bred Game on Dude is trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who expects to attend the races less than a week after suffering a heart attack.

“Need to win World Cup just to break even on medical bills,” Baffert posted on his Twitter feed after being released from a Dubai hospital Thursday.

Baffert said he hopes to be at Meydan Racecourse for the World Cup, which features nine races with purses totaling $27.25 million. Game on Dude and Chantal Sutherland, the first female jockey to ride in the World Cup, will be lining up on the far outside in a 14-horse field with a chance to give Baffert his third World Cup victory. The trainer won with Silver Charm in 1998 and Captain Steve in 2001.

And there is 4-year-old filly Royal Delta, trying to become the first filly or mare to win the World Cup.

Post time for the World Cup is set for 12:40 p.m. Central.

Game On Dude’s co-owner Bernie Schiappa said Thursday it doesn’t matter if his horse starts from the outside in the 1 1/4-mile race because “you can place him wherever you want to place him.”

Game On Dude, the leading older horse in the U.S., opened the year with a victory in the San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 5, his first start since finishing second to Drosselmeyer in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5.

So You Think, a 6-year-old trained by Aidan O’Brien, will be making his first start since finishing sixth in the BC Classic. So You Think won 4 of 8 starts last year, including the Irish Champion Stakes. The son of High Chaparral has won the Cox Plate in Australia two times.

Japan will be represented by three horses in a bid to repeat the success of 2011 winner Victoire Pisa - whose emotional victory came only weeks after the country was hit by a devastating tsunami. Smart Falcon may be the best of the trio with a nine-race winning streak. The others are last year’s World Cup runner up Transcend, and long shot Eishin Flash.

Another Hall of Fame trainer, Bill Mott, is hoping Royal Delta can match the success of his first trip to Dubai when his two-time Horse of the Year Cigar won the first Dubai World Cup in 1996. The 4-year-old filly is coming off a strong year, including a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic.