It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it and you know the Dubai brothers are listenin’ to the music, looking out over the world they’ve created.
The Dubai World Cup celebrates a dozen years on the international stage tomorrow and the entire program could be included in any conversation about world thoroughbred championships. Racing theater just doesn’t get any more dramatic than what will occur beginning at 9:40 a.m., EDT.

“Money makes the mare go.” Racetrackers have been saying it since the time the thoroughbred’s foundation sires roamed the deserts of the Middle East. The Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian and Byerly Turk would be proud of today’s descendants.

Seven races with purses totaling more than $21.25 million have attracted horses from around the world. Among them are five Horses of the Year, three champions and the major stakes winners of seven countries. American heavy heads include Horse of the Year Invasor, turf champion Miesque’s Approval and a storied West Coast gelding named Lava Man.

Nearly nine of every 10 starters in last year’s Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs were based on this continent. On closed-circuit racing monitors from Nad Al Sheba Race Course Saturday morning, only 14 of 82 World Cup program starters could call America home.

But for all the theater and the champions and the Group 1 titlists on display, especially in the centerpiece $6-million Dubai World Cup, this show belongs to the host country. Discreet Cat was American bred but was purchased by Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai’s ruling family for $5-million following a juvenile maiden winner, beaucoup bucks even for a Saratoga debut winner.

Then there’s Uruguay’s Triple Crown champion Invasor, who last year won the American Horse of the Year title for the same family’s Sheikh Hamdan following another seven-figure purchase. And Premium Tap, too, third in last year’s Breeders’ Cup but first last time out in the prestigious Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup following his purchase by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

These three members of the World Cup field are 8-5, 6-5 and 9-2, respectively. I bring this up because if you’re a racing fan driving to your favorite simulcast outlet to view this spectacular racing exhibition in the Dubai desert, you should appreciate where some of your gas money went.