DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A half-hour later, a Japan-based horse named Ushba Tesoro would win the $12 million Dubai World Cup. The race Equinox won, the Group 1, $6 million Sheema Classic, offered half the World Cup purse, but no one in their right mind would suggest Equinox is half the horse.  In fact, Equinox stole the show Saturday night at Meydan Racecourse, putting on a dazzling display while beating Westover, the 2022 Irish Derby winner, by 3 1/2 lengths. That was perhaps half the margin Equinox could have posted if jockey Christophe Lemaire had gone full bore with his mount. Quite the contrary, Equinox required no more than a quiet hand ride to open a lead of more than five lengths with a half-furlong to race; Lemaire took a peek over his right shoulder, saw no one within hailing range, and hit the off switch. Equinox immediately slowed, and only then did Westover make any headway.  Despite barely getting out of a gallop, Equinox, the shortest-priced favorite on the card, returned $3.20 and set a course record for 2,400 meters, about 1 1/2 miles, clocking 2:25.65. Granted, the Meydan course, rated good-to-firm, was playing quite fast Saturday (the Dubai Gold Cup also was run in record time), but let’s not take too much away from Equinox. The 4-year-old all week during morning training touted himself as the best horse in Dubai, and he ran like it,   :: Bet the races on DRF Bets! Sign up with code WINNING to get a $250 Deposit Match, $10 Free Bet, and FREE DRF Formulator.  Equinox has been plying his trade from well off the pace, but with a lack of speed and an alert beginning, Lemaire decided to take nothing away from his mount. Equinox went to the lead, rated beautifully, and controlled proceedings from start to finish. He gathered momentum after turning for home, was edging clear at the 400-meter mark, but really put on a show after passing the furlong grounds, going supernova to take the heart away from all his chasing rivals.  “I knew he was the best horse, and so I was happy to make the pace,” Lemaire said.   Westover ran nicely finishing second by 2 1/4 lengths over third-place Zagrey, showing he can be an exciting 4-year-old in Europe. Tuesday morning, Westover ran off with his exercise rider, literally taking an entire extra circuit of the Meydan training track, and he was fairly hot before the Sheema Classic. Going along among rivals nearer the back of a 10-horse field than the front, Westover had to await room coming off the turn and leveled off nicely when outside and in the clear under Ryan Moore. Trainer Ralph Beckett mentioned 1 1/4-mile races like the Eclipse Stakes and the Tattersalls Gold Cup later this summer as long-range goals.  Zagrey, a 51-1 shot yet to win a group stakes race of any sort, exceeded expectations with a closing third, while 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel’s Romance raced outside, mid-pack and in the clear, before going flat in the homestretch and finishing seventh. Last year’s Japan-based winner of this race, Sharyar, was fifth, and Equinox looks like Japan’s horse of the moment.   He was Japan’s Horse of the Year in 2022, running close seconds in the Japanese 2000 Guineas and the Japanese Derby, getting a summer break, and coming back like a tiger this past fall. Equinox won a pair of Group 1s late last year and won them easily, and now has shipped for the first time and performed at least as well, if not better, in Dubai. Best of all for American fans, Equinox could be coming soon to a theater near you: Connections earlier this week suggested they’d eschew a run at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and consider the BC Turf at Santa Anita.   Owned by Silk Trading Company and trained by Tetsuya Kimura, Equinox is a 4-year-old by Kitasan Black out if Chateau Blanche, by King Halo. And if he is not the best horse in the world right now, Equinox is right up there.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.