Dubai World Cup at Nad Al Sheba Betting tips

It's hard to know quite how good Godolphin's unbeaten Discreet Cat is, but we'll have a far better idea on Saturday afternoon after he's locked horns with the US 2006 horse of the year, Invasor, in the $6million Dubai World Cup at Nad Al Sheba. The "boys in blue" have managed to land this huge pot five times since the inaugural running in 1996 and Discreet Cat, a four-year-old son of Forestry, is a top-priced 6/4 with Blue Square to give trainer Saeed bin Suroor another victory in this 10-furlong contest. Visually impressive though he has been in his races - and his victory in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in November amounts to pretty solid form - overall he has a good deal to find with the Kiaran McLaughlin-trained Invasor, who looks pretty good value to me at 11/8 with William Hill. Two of the last thee winners of the Dubai World Cup have been US raiders and four victors since '96 either won or were placed in the Breeders' Cup Classic the season before, a race which Invasor triumphed in back in October when beating hot favourite Bernardini in a cracking renewal at Churchill Downs. That was undoubtedly the five-year-old's finest hour in a season which saw him improve at a rate of knots. Well held when fourth behind Discreet Cat in the UAE Derby at this meeting last term, Invasor is a bigger, stronger horse now and his subsequent achievements make him arguably the best 10-furlong performer in the world today. The son of Candy Stripes, a winner of 10 of his 11 career starts, warmed up for this assignment when scoring at Gulfstream Park last month, which will have blown away the cobwebs. Make no mistake, this horse is a proper machine and I'll be completely shocked if he doesn't prevail on Saturday. With just eight runners set to go to post, the draw won't have any real impact on the outcome. In any case, Invasor was drawn widest of all when landing the Breeders' Cup Classic, a race in which Premium Tap ran a cracking race in third. The latter renews rivalry on Saturday but there's no reason why he should exact revenge on the selection. The rest of the field have an awful lot to find, although Forty Licks has been the subject of upbeat bulletins recently and may well give Premium Tap a race for third spot. Verdict - 4pts Invasor @ 11/8 (William Hill)