Global Hit will make his Meydan debut on Friday night and Korea’s sole representative at this year’s Dubai Racing Carnival has been handed an assignment as tough as they come in the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge over 1900M.

Taking part in the Carnival is a chance to be tested against the best, and if nothing else, GLOBAL HIT certainly has that chance in what is shaping up to be a terrific renewal of a race which serves as a step towards the Dubai World Cup, on what is set to be the best night’s card of flat racing anywhere in the world so far this year.

KABIRKHAN, who won this race a year ago returns to racing for the first time since last year’s World Cup, while FACTEUR CHEVAL, winner of the Dubai Turf last year, makes his dirt debut. IMPERIAL EMPEROR and WALK OF STARS both enter off impressive Meydan wins, and GENEROUS TIPPER makes his first Dubai start since being relocated from the United States. None of the others in a field of twelve are to be dismissed either. To make it an even harder ask, Global Hit has drawn gate twelve of twelve.

So, can Global Hit measure up in this type of company? Korea has been represented at each of the last two carnivals, but this is the first time since Dolkong in 2019 that a horse at the peak of his form has travelled. After Main Stay got Korea’s first Dubai win in a Sprint Handicap in 2017, two years later Dolkong won the Curlin Handicap and lined up in the World Cup itself.

Had a peak Dolkong and a peak Global Hit ever faced off on the Seoul sand, Global Hit would be the betting favourite among the local race going public. But that may not necessarily transfer to the very different dirt of Meydan.

Perhaps one way of assessing Global Hit is that he got within five-lengths of Wilson Tesoro, a top line JRA dirt horse, in the Korea Cup last year. Since returning to Japan, Wilson Tesoro has beaten Meisho Hario when winning and then finished 2^nd to Lemon Pop and Forever Young. He would be among the top line of favourites were he in Meydan. Global Hit isn’t on that level, but he is not a million miles away.

A potential plus for Global Hit is his racing style. Korea-trained horses have frequently found the tempo of races at Meydan very different to that back home where the start of the race is usually fast, before they ease off slightly in mid race in advance of going hard for the line. Yet Global Hit’s way of jumping out fairly and then steadily ramping up the pressure, may well fit. In this scenario the wide draw may not be as much of a problem as it first appears. With Kabirkhan having drawn gate two, there should be plenty of pace on, so under a patient ride, Global Hit should have an opportunity to drop in as the field opens up before the first bend.

Global Hit is a five-year-old entire by Korea-based American sire To Honor And Serve (by Bernardini).  He is out of the Yankee Victor mare Tammy’s Victress, a winner of seven races during her career in the United States. Global Hit was bred by the Yeonhak Agricultural Company and was purchased by current owner Kim Joon-hyun for 50 Million Won as a yearling in 2001. He has gone on to accumulate 3.8 Billion Won in prize money.

After winning on his debut, Global Hit suffered an injury that curtailed his two-year-old season, and he didn’t make the opening leg of the Triple Crown in 2023. He returned to win the final two legs, the Korean Derby and the Minister’s Cup, and hasn’t looked back. He finished his three-year-old campaign with 2^nd places to Winner’s Man in both the President’s Cup and Grand Prix Stakes, having finished midfield in his first Korea Cup.

2024 would see Global Hit dominate domestically, winning five of his seven starts and going one better in both the President’s Cup and Grand Prix. He also denied Japan a clean sweep of the places in the Korea Cup by running 3^rd behind Crown Pride and Wilson Tesoro but beating Light Warrior. His only defeat during the year to a locally trained horse came by a nose at the hands of regular rival Tuhonui Banseok in the Busan Mayor’s Cup in May. In total he has ten wins from seventeen career starts.

Global Hit will be partnered at Meydan by regular jockey Kim Hye-sun (pronounced “Hey” nit “Hi”). The 37-year-old was first licensed in June 2009 and began her career at Seoul Racecourse where she rode out her apprenticeship. In 2017, she accompanied the Mizutani Masateru owned Jejui Haneul to Busan for the G2 Korean Oaks and came through late to score a narrow victory at odds of 55/1. In doing so, she became the first Korean female rider to win a Group race.

After that, Kim relocated full time to Busan. She married fellow jockey Park Jae-i and the couple had a son in 2020. Kim took just 10 months maternity leave and since returning, she has put together a remarkable run of form both in terms of numbers of winners and, courtesy of Global Hit, a string of big race victories. While her style may not always be the most elegant in a finish, it has been undeniably effective, and she seems to have the invaluable gift of horses running for her.

Jockey Kim added a Group success without Global Hit last June when partnering stablemate SPEED YOUNG to victory in the G3 Owners’ Cup. She has ridden overseas before, taking part in an Arabian Challenge race in Abu Dhabi in 2013 and in an international “Mixed Doubles” jockey challenge in Macau in 2017. As of January 2025, she has ridden 430 winners from 4876 rides with 54 of those coming in the past year.

Like many handlers at the south coast track, Bang Dong-suk (it is pronounced exactly as it sounds) began training when Busan Racecourse opened in 2007. He has never been prolific but has maintained a win rate of 10% across his career. He had to wait until 2021 to train his first Group race winner, Hit Yegam, for Global Hit’s owner Kim Joon-hyun, who won the 1^st and 3^rd legs of that year’s Triple Crown. For both jockey Kim and trainer Bang, Global Hit has already been a career-defining horse. There may or may not be more to come, but there will be nothing to lose when they step up onto the big stage under the lights at Meydan on Friday night.