A total of six group races go to post at Meydan in Dubai on Saturday March 9 with the concluding rounds of the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge for Thoroughbreds and Purebred Arabians taking pride of place on an Emirates Airline-sponsored eight-race card worth US$1,775m in prize money.

Emirates Airline is a Pillar Partner of Meydan Group and is also Race Sponsor of the Group 1 $10m Dubai World Cup on March 30, a race now in its eighteenth year.

The second biggest meeting of the season, Super Saturday is the traditional dress rehearsal for Dubai World Cup day. A valuable and high-class card in its own right, Super Saturday is scheduled three weeks before Dubai World Cup day to allow horses that compete on both days to recuperate before the $27.25m Dubai World Cup day.

The quality of Super Saturday as a standalone raceday was strengthened last season when two races on the programme were elevated to Group 1 status – the third round of the Al Maktoum Challenge and the Jebel Hatta, which are used as prep races by many trainers aiming horses at the Dubai World Cup and Dubai Duty Free respectively.

“This is well-known as a precursor to the Dubai World Cup and gives race-goers the opportunity to see some of the horses that will be running during the world’s richest race meeting on March 30,” said Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations – Gulf, Middle East & Iran.

Malih Al Basti, Meydan Group Board Member and Chairman of Meydan Racing Committee said: “Emirates Airline are Meydan Group Pillar Partners and as such have long offered committed and much-valued support to racing in Dubai.

“The airline, which has also been associated with the $10m Dubai World Cup since the race’s inception eighteen years ago, has always demonstrated a far-sighted approach to the development of horseracing. As one of the longest-serving supporters of the sport in this country, Emirates Airline has been instrumental in the rise to huge global prominence of Super Saturday, the Dubai World Cup Carnival and of course Dubai World Cup day itself.”