Collmus will call Dubai World Cup; Cohen steps down

Larry Collmus will call the Grade 1 Dubai World Cup day card on March 25, though that decision has been accompanied by controversy.

Alistair Cohen, the English-language race caller in Dubai since the 2021-22 meet, has stepped down in response, as previously reported by Nicholas Godfrey of Thoroughbred Racing Commentary. In a Twitter post explaining his departure, Cohen stated that he was not informed that he would not call the Dubai World Cup day card this year. Collmus confirmed to Horse Racing Nation Saturday that he will call the races on Dubai World Cup day. Later he said as much in a post on Twitter.

"To leave my wife, my home, my animals and my position in South Africa for six months, twice, wasn't easy mentally but the honor and desire to call the Dubai World Cup meeting was too good to refuse," Cohen said in his statement. "It was an unbelievable privilege to call the 2022 Dubai World Cup. Sadly, the damage has been done and I cannot bring myself to continue here. To be sideswiped nearly two weeks before the big day is something no commentator would accept."

Cohen left his position calling racing in Dubai once he found out that they had arranged for Collmus to call the Dubai World Cup card without telling him, according to a report by Jack Milner at South African outlet 4Racing. "My contract with them was to call all races in the Emirates from 20 October 2022 to 7 April 2023, Dubai World Cup night included," Cohen told Milner.

Cohen had called races in the United Arab Emirates since the beginning of the 2021-22 season. In addition to Meydan, where the Dubai World Cup takes place, he also called races at the other Emirates Racing Authority tracks: Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Jebel Ali and Sharjah. Outside of Dubai, he has called races in his native South Africa at tracks including Turffontein, as well as at Musselburgh Racecourse in Scotland.