Life Is Good leads 25 U.S. horses nominated for Dubai World Cup

Life Is Good leads 25 U.S. horses nominated for the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1).

In all, 750 horses from 20 countries have been nominated for the March 26 World Cup meeting, according to a news release.

The Dubai World Cup long had been thought to be in the works for Life Is Good, who is coming off wins in the Breeders' Cup Mile and the Pegasus World Cup (G1).

But trainer Todd Pletcher told Horse Racing Nation the day after the win at Gulfstream, "Right now, we’re not committed to anything. We’ll see how he bounces out. We’re obviously looking at the entire year. There’s always a risk in going to Dubai. You kind of give up a little time when you come back. We’ll let everybody get settled after the weekend and look it over and come up with a game plan.”

Life Is Good is one of seven nominees for Pletcher, the most of any U.S. trainer for this event.

Other nominees of note are Doug O'Neill's Hot Rod Charlie, coming off a 5 1/4-length win in the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 (G2) on Friday; Brad Cox's Mandaloun, who came back from his Haskell (G1) win to score in the Louisiana (G3); and a pair for Bob Baffert, Cezanne, who came off a nine-month break to finish third in the Palos Verdes on Jan. 29, and Country Grammer, who has been off since winning last year's Hollywood Gold Cup (G1).

Here are the 25 U.S. horses nominated for the Dubai World Cup, with their trainers: