The Dubai Cup has a field limit of 16 runners and is invitation-only. The Dubai Cup has quickly become one of the world’s top racing challenges and attracts huge crowds. Dubai World Cup night features 9 races, where the first is a Group 1 race for purebred Arabians only. The rest of the card has five Group 1 races, including the Dubai World Cup, two Group 2 and a Group 3 race. Some of these races are run on turf while others are run on the all-weather surface.

Dubai Cup Betting 'odds' are an expression of relative probabilities. Often 'odds' are quoted as odds against, rather than as odds in favor. For example, the probability that a random day is a Sunday is one-seventh (1/7), hence the odds that a random day is a Sunday are 1 : 6. The odds against a random day being a Sunday are 6 : 1. The first figure represents the number of ways of failing to achieve the outcome and the second figure is the number of ways of achieving a favorable outcome.