Dubai World Cup & Zuma Unveil Collaboration

An unprecedented partnership bringing one of the world’s biggest restaurants to the world’s most spectacular race day

The Dubai World Cup has always been about scale. The world’s richest race day. A global audience. A city that understands how to turn sport into spectacle. For its thirtieth running, the event is making a decisive shift toward something more layered, where racing, dining, and cultural status intersect in a way that feels distinctly Dubai.

This season, the Dubai World Cup enters a new chapter through a landmark collaboration with Zuma, one of the most influential restaurant brands in the world. Together with Dubai Racing Club, the partnership introduces the Royal Enclosure Majlis by Zuma, a hospitality experience that sets a new standard for what a race day can be.

Hosted at Meydan Racecourse, the Royal Enclosure Majlis by Zuma is not an add on or a themed lounge. It is a fully realised concept that brings Zuma’s signature dining philosophy into the heart of the Dubai World Cup. For the first time, one of the world’s most recognisable restaurant brands is not simply catering an event, but shaping its most exclusive space.

The experience is designed to feel seamless from arrival to final furlong. Guests enter through a private bridge into the Royal Enclosure, welcomed into majlis style lounges furnished with plush leather seating and elevated views of the track. From there, the day unfolds with unrestricted access to the Parade Ring and Saddling Garden, placing guests alongside owners, trainers, and jockeys during the most charged moments of the race.

At the centre of it all is Zuma’s culinary direction. The menu has been developed exclusively for the Dubai World Cup, drawing on the brand’s globally celebrated approach to contemporary Japanese cuisine while responding to the scale and pace of race day. Dining is not treated as a pause between races, but as part of the main event, unfolding throughout the day alongside the action. Premium beverages flow freely, reinforcing the sense that this is a complete experience rather than a sequence of moments.

Zuma’s presence at the World Cup feels both natural and strategic. Since opening its first restaurant in London in 2002, the brand has shaped modern dining culture across cities such as London, New York, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Its influence extends beyond food into lifestyle, design, and social ritual. Bringing that sensibility into the Royal Enclosure signals a shift in how racing hospitality is imagined, not just in Dubai, but globally.

Ali Al Ali, CEO and Board Member of Dubai Racing Club, describes the collaboration as transformative, positioning it as a new international benchmark for race day hospitality. Zuma’s Managing Director for the Middle East and Turkey, David Smyczek, frames the partnership as an honour, bringing the brand’s experience to one of the city’s most defining cultural moments. Together, the statements reflect a shared understanding that the Dubai World Cup is not only a sporting event, but a stage where the city presents itself to the world.

Priced at AED 22,000, the Royal Enclosure Majlis by Zuma is aimed at a guest who values access, atmosphere, and curation in equal measure. It is an experience designed for those who see race day not as a single afternoon, but as a social and cultural occasion that deserves the same attention as any major international event.

As the Dubai World Cup celebrates its thirtieth edition on Saturday, 28 March 2026, this collaboration feels less like a one off and more like a signal. Racing, dining, and luxury are no longer running on parallel tracks. In Dubai, they are converging, creating experiences that are ambitious, confident, and unmistakably of the city.

The Royal Enclosure Majlis by Zuma does not just elevate race day. It redefines it completely.