Dubai is next stop on the Craig Williams world tour as he seeks to cash in on his career best form int the Middle East.
Williams has been racking up winners across Asia of late after dominating the spring at home in Australia.
Some of his recent triumphs include the Hong Kong Vase on Dunaden as well as Japan’s premiere two year old race as a fill in rider.
Unsurprisingly Williams was chosen as Australia’s representative for the Meydan Masters, a Series for the top 12 jockeys on the planet.
The Meydan Masters International Jockeys’ Challenge as it’s known is the precursor for the 2012 Dubai World Cup Carnival at Meydan on Thursday January 5.
Invitations are forwarded by the Dubai Racing Club and go to the riders that have excelled in the world’s biggest events.
Each will ride in four races across the two day meeting with points allocated depending on results.
Between the dozen riders chosen they’ve claimed a huge 61 Group 1 races between them over 2011.
Some of those races include the Dubai World Cup, Melbourne Cup, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and of course Williams in the Caulfield Cup, W.S. Cox Plate.
Williams was the undisputed champion of the Melbourne spring carnival this year and only a suspension cost him a shot at adding the Melbourne Cup to his already glowing resume.
He’ll be up against it repeating his success in Dubai though with the following riders locked in to compete:
Mickael Barzalona, Maxime Guyon and Christophe Lemaire from France; William Buick, Ryan Moore, Colm O’Donoghue and Tom Queally from Great Britain and Ireland; Italy’s Mirco Demuro and Frankie Dettori; Kenichi Ikezoe from Japan; and Andrasch Starke from Germany.
The battle between Lemaire and Williams will be especially interesting given it was the Frenchman who capitalised on Williams suspension to win the Melbourne Cup on Dunaden.
The Meydan Masters International Jockeys’ Challenge was first held in 2010 when won by Richard Hills from Great Britain with Calvin Borel of the US claiming the 2011 title.
