Staging $30m Dubai World Cup programme in war zone a defiant feat

There’s an incongruity to tomorrow’s Dubai World Cup programme in Meydan that only underlines the improvisational qualities that have made it one of the most high-profile events in global racing. It is the 30th running of the World Cup itself. The mile-and-a-quarter dirt race is the $12 million (€10.4 million) feature of an eight-race card worth over $30 million in all. All of it is the brainchild of Dubai’s leader, Sheikh Mohammed, who no doubt will be guest of honour despite the pressing business of trying to navigate his country through the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran. The frivolity of sport effectively taking place in a war zone generates an inevitable dissonance. When...