Animal Kingdom for Arofield from the United States and jockey Joel Rosario won the 2,000 meters Big Race of the 18th edition of the Dubai World Cup 2013, with 27.25 million US dollars prize money the world's richest horse contest.

With the 5-year-old Animal Kingdom, its owners Arofield Stud and Team and jockey Rosario cashed in the grand prize of 10 million US dollars, sponsored by Dubai's state-owned Emirates Airline.

The race event, watched by 60,000 spectators at the Meydan Grandstand amid good weather and 1 billion people globally on TV, started with a disappointment when the royal Godolphin stables, owned by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, announced that last year's big race winner Monterosso had to be pulled out from the last race due to a lame left foot.

Commentators agreed that Animal Kingdom benefitted from the bad news which came as a shock for many Emirati fans at the hippodrome.

Nevertheless, the ruling family Al-Maktoum won three out of nine high-class races. Soft Falling Rain, ridden by renowned jockey Paul Hanagan and owned by Dubai's deputy ruler and minister of finance Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, won the Godolphin Mile and 1 million U. S. dollars worth of prize money.

The Godolphin's horse Cavalryman from Ireland and jockey Silvestre De Sousa were first at the 3,200 meters long Dubai Gold Cup, cashing in likewise 1 million US dollars.

Godolhin's Shajha from Britain with jockey Silvestre de Sousa were victorious at the 1,800 meters long turf track of the Dubai Duty Free race, which meant 5 million US dollars prize money for the royal stables.