What horses does Sir Alex Ferguson have in the Dubai Sheema Classic on World Cup night?

SIR ALEX FERGUSON has been pictured out in Dubai as he hopes for one of the biggest wins of his career.

The Manchester United legend is now a successful race horse owner and enjoyed a 25-1 winner during Cheltenham with Monmrial.

PA

Sir Alex will be hoping Spirit Dancer can land him a seven-figure payday in Dubai[/caption]

The Scot, 82, banked a cool £56,270 for that win in the Pertamps Handicap Hurdle but that will be a drop in the ocean compared to the riches on offer in the UAE.

What horses does Sir Alex Ferguson have in the Dubai Sheema Classic?

Fergie is running just one horse in the 4pm race, Spirit Dancer, which will be jockeyed by Oisin Orr.

Trained by Richard Fahey, the horse goes into the race in brilliant form having already won £1.5 million in its last two wins in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

But a win at Meydan would blow those winnings out the water, with an incredible $6million of total prize money up for grabs in the 1m 4f race.

The winner will bank £2.7m.

Despite the eye-watering riches on offer in that race it isn’t even the richest on the card, with the flagship Dubai World Cup offering the winner a share of $12m.

Will Spirit Dancer win the Dubai Sheema Classic?

Spirit Dancer will have its work cut out in the race which features an extremely strong field.

Ferguson’s horse is currently priced at around 20-1 with Auguste Rodin the favourite ahead of the likes of Liberty Island and Emily Upjohn.

But earlier this week Sir Alex said he was “quietly confident” his horse could spring a surprise.

He said: “We’re quietly confident. In fairness, Richard has said all along that he thinks he’s a mile and a half horse.

“His Frankel pedigree suggests he should be able to cope with it, so we’re hopeful in that respect, but we don’t know.

“It’s an honour to have a horse in a race of this magnitude that you’ve bred yourself.

“When he won at York, Richard told us we were going to Bahrain and I said ‘Bahrain! What do we want to go there for?!’

“He said there was a great race there for him, so he’s the architect and we’re not going to argue with what he’s doing.”

Where can I watch the Dubai Sheema Classic?

The Dubai Sheema Classic takes place at 4pm on Saturday, March 30 and all nine races from Meydan can be watched on Racing TV.

Two races – the UAE Derby (1.50pm) and Golden Shaheen (2.25pm) – will also be shown on ITV but the other seven races, including the Sheema Classic, will not be.