DUBAI, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Purebred Arabian AF Mathmoon owned by Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum won the first race called "Dubai Kahayla Classic" of the 21st edition of the annual horse race Dubai World Cup here on Saturday, the 30 million dollars prize money day.
AF Mathmoon, trained by Emirati trainer Musabah Al-Muheiri, crossed the finishing line at a time of 02:15:47 before blue-dressed jockey Dane O' Neill sat back in the saddle bearing start No. 14 after galloping for 2,000 meters on dirt on the Meydan Racecourse in the heart of Dubai.
Irish jockey O' Neill said after the race his finishing was "amazing" and that he focused on steady ride rather than a speedy start.
By winning the race for purebred Arabian horses, 5-year old AF Mathmoon cashed in 600,000 U.S. dollars prize money. The total prize money of the one million dollars race sponsored by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund IPIC was one million dollars.
Sunny weather and temperatures around 32 degrees Celsius delivered a smashing but also dramatic start of this year's Dubai World Cup edition. Horse Thakif from the host country United Arab Emirates led the race most of the time but fell back on the last 500 meters of the dirt track when he apparently got exhausted, finishing third. Second was TM Thunder Struck from the United States and owned by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al-Thani from Qatar.
With a total prize money of 30 million dollars, the Dubai World Cup is the richest horse race in the world with the highest total prize money distributed on a single race day. A total of nine races is performed and jockey Dane O' Neill will ride four more races after his first victory.