Australian breeders have made a considerable contribution to Saturday’s rich Dubai World Cup meeting with 10 runners set to carry the (Aus) suffix.

They will contest six of the feature races on the card including the Group 1 showpieces of the World Cup, Duty Free and Golden Shaheen.

“These runners further serve to underline the versatility of Australian horses,” Aushorse Marketing Chairman Antony Thompson said.  “This meeting has produced some wonderful results for Australian horses over the years.  Our sprinters are obviously recognised the world over but at this meeting, it has been in races run over longer distances where we have really excelled.”

Thompson pointed to Elvstroem’s success in the 2005 G1 Dubai Duty Free (1777m) and last year’s G2 UAE Derby (1900m) quinella by Musir and Raihana as prime examples.  “We have an exciting line up of horses representing us again this weekend, so hopefully we can build further on our Dubai success.”

Musir (Redoute’s Choice) was a headliner at this meeting last year winning the Derby.  The Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa homebred runs in the $US10 million Dubai World Cup this year.

Rocket Man (Viscount) was a brave second in the 2010 Golden Shaheen and returns for another crack at the $2 million sprint this year.  The Singapore Horse of the Year will be joined in the sprint by Dynamic Blitz (Elusive Quality) who was a G3 winner at Meydan last month.

Another Singapore star Better Than Ever (French Deputy) runs in the $US5 million Dubai Duty Free.  He has won 14 of his 15 starts for trainer Laurie Laxon.

Last year’s Derby runner-up Raihana (Elusive Quality) will also run in the Duty Free.  She was a winner at Meydan last month before being runner-up at G2 level next time out.

Globetrotter War Artist (Orpen) will contest the $US1 million G2 Al Quoz Sprint alongside Better Be The One (More Than Ready) who raced in Australia as the stakes winning Common Interest.  Since transferring from Lee Freedman to Michael Freedman’s Singapore stables, Better Be The One has easily won three of his four starts.

South African G1 winner Le Drakkar (Anabaa) runs in the G2 $1 milion Godolphin Mile after being G2 placed on the track last month.

The fillies Reem (Galileo) and Mahbooba (Galileo) will attempt to give Australia consecutive wins in the $US2 million UAE Derby.  Both fillies have won Listed events in the Gulf this year.