Ushba Tesoro Wins, Algiers Places, Emblem Road Shows, And Country Grammer Finishes A Ragged Seventh

A surprising — yet not so surprising — mid-pack second-tier favorite, Ushba Tesoro muscled all the competition out of the way in the $12-million Dubai World Cup on Saturday evening at the Emirate’s fabled Meydan race course and took the win. Touts in London and the States had been looking hard at the colt and were factoring him in as a horse that would work well in exotics and that could not be counted out. In the running he proved that and much more.

As expected, the lone Irishman in the mix and a strong co-favorite among the London bookmakers, Algiers, put in a solid showing and placed. Going off as the co-favorite alongside the Bob Baffert-trained defending 2022 Dubai World Cup victor Country Grammer, Algiers fought tooth and nail up the backstretch and around the far turn, but it was Ushba Tesoro under a very thankful Yuga Kawada who got the better trip. Algiers went off at 11-4. The wholly outmatched Emblem Road showed mettle to hang on to third, and the holders of trifecta tickets would have been made extremely pleased with his 28-1 odds.

For his part, Country Grammer did not live up to his billing from the get-go, seeming to have trouble finding himself in the race, despite his impressive jockey Frankie Dettori’s best efforts. It was as if he didn’t quite know where he was at any given moment, a surprise for such a self-possessed, ordinarily confident runner. As the finish rushed at him, he and Dettori found themselves in a very disappointing seventh place. It wasn’t Country Grammer’s day.