The Dubai World Cup post position draw rook place in Dubai yesterday with the connections making the following comments after the draw. 

Shinji Maeda, brother of owner Koji Maeda, Awardee, Post 1 – “In reality, we wanted an outside gate but funnily enough number one is our lucky number. Kizuna and One And Only both won the Japanese Derby from the first bracket, so the inside is lucky for us. The field is small so from any position he would need luck.”

Trainer Satish Seemar, North America, Post 2 – “That’s exactly what we wanted – one, two or three. I’m very positive. We’ve got everything right in his preparation so far, and now we have the perfect draw. He’s still to peak, and he’ll do that on Saturday.”

Jockey Richard Mullen, North America, Post 2 – “I’m very happy with the draw. When we discussed it this morning, I said to Satish that anything from one to five would be fine but I didn’t want to know if it was higher, so the two stall is ideal. He’s a natural front-runner, so I should be able to go forward.”

Trainer Antonio Sano, Gunnevera, Post 3 – “It’s a good position, but remember my horse comes from behind, so it’s not that important to us. It’s a strong race, and I hope he has the chance to finish with a good run in the last two furlongs. (Jockey) Joel Rosario knows the plan. It’s very important we see a lot of speed in the race so my horse can come from behind at the end.”

Trainer Erwan Charpy, Furia Cruzada, Post 4 – “Four is a very good draw for her and I am happy with that. She has been very consistent all season on both the turf and the dirt. She has improved all year and is in perfect condition.”

Trainer Bob Baffert, Mubtaahij, 5; West Coast, 9 – “I'm fine with both. Everybody wants the one, but I do not. I don't like the one-hole and have never liked the one. I've heard you have to be on the rail here as it's a speed biased rail, but I think in a race of this magnitude, when you get all of these good horses together, all that changes. We have a fast horse. From the outside, if they break a little slow you're not going to get in trouble. From the inside if you break slow, you're going to be in trouble. I just didn't want them to draw next to each other. If they'd bump into each other or something else had happened, I'd hate be together. I think every trainer here hopes his horse runs his race and feels if he runs his race, you know you're going to be competitive. To me, the break is so important, as we saw last year (with Arrogate). I don't want to see that and go through that again. I don't think there's a really bad post when you're going a mile-and-a-quarter (2000m). The horse is the more important than the post so I'm fine with it. I'm looking forward to it.”

Trainer Dallas Stewart, Forever Unbridled, Post 6 – “What we’re real happy about is how she’s doing here. Her energy is great. Her appetite is good. The post position should be fine. She’s comfortable, so I’m comfortable. It’s going to be a great race. She’s going to need to bring her best race to win this.”

Lisa-Jane Graffard, French racing manager for Godolphin, Talismanic, Post 7 – “The horse trained well on the dirt at Del Mar. He's very adaptable with a great mind and Andre (Fabre, trainer) always wanted to bring a good horse here for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and we’re delighted to bring a horse of that calibre to this race. Tactics are up to the trainer and jockey and we’ll wait to hear on the night.”

Assistant trainer Leandro Mora, Pavel, Post 8 – “I definitely didn’t want to have the one. I expect he’ll be forwardly placed, but once they come out of the gate it’s a different game. West Coast is the horse to follow. If we’re lucky we’ll break with West Coast and be happy to chase him and then make our move. I’d like to be in the first four and then do what we can from there.”

Trainer Saeed Bin Suroor, Thunder Snow, Post 10 – “He’s doing good this year, last time was disappointing but he came back really well. We’re really happy with him.”