A pair of Group 2 turf races, the Al Rashidiya over 1,800 meters and the Al Fahidi Fort over 1,400 meters, highlight the Thursday card at the Dubai World Cup Carnival at Meydan. Both races are worth $250,000 and drew solid fields. The Al Rashidiya is race 2, post time 9:05 a.m. Eastern, while the Al Fahidi Fort goes as race 5, post time 11:50. Championship won the 2017 Al Fahidi Fort and is back for another try in the race, but he has not started since Feb. 16. Championship, a 7-year-old Exceed and Excel gelding trained by Ahmad bin Harmash, had not won a stakes of any sort in his career when he exploded to a 3 1/2-length win in the Al Fahidi Fort, and the flashy turn of foot he showed in that start at about seven furlongs carried over to the 1,600-meter Zabeel Mile, which he won by more than two lengths. But Championship had a late-2016 lead-in to his winter exploits last season, and it’s reasonable to be skeptical he returns from such a long break exactly the same horse. Noah from Goa could be set to deliver a peak performance at a fair price. The South African import, trained by Mike de Kock, was third to Championship in the Al Fahidi Fort and second in the Zabeel Mile, and his 2017 campaign came during the long acclimation period for South African expat equids. De Kock’s horses almost always run better second time after a layoff than first, and Noah from Goa got in a useful run Jan. 11, finishing third in a handicap race over this same 1,400-meter trip. That race’s winner, D’Bai, also is part of the Al Fahidi Fort field, and at age 4, with only one Dubai start behind him, D’Bai has upside. In Europe, as basically a listed-stakes-class horse, he mainly was raced at distances of one mile or longer, but the turnback to 1,400 meters in a Meydan turf handicap three weeks ago yielded a favorable outcome. Jungle Cat was among the top 1,000- to 1,200-meter turf sprinters to race regularly the last two World Cup Carnivals but was stretched out to 1,400-meter races with some success last year in England and holds firm at that trip. Benbatl, trained by Saeed bin Suroor for Godolphin, surely is the one to beat in the Al Rashidiya. Fifth in the Epsom Derby and among the more talented 3-year-olds in Europe last season, Benbatl was given his first Dubai test Jan. 11 in the Singspiel Stakes and aced it; he won by 2 1/4 lengths and looked well within himself in so doing. If the visual appearance told the tale, Benbatl should have plenty of energy for the Al Rashidiya, which is run at the same distance as the Singspiel. Oisin Murphy has the mount again on a horse that could wind up in the $6 million Dubai Turf if he continues progressing. The de Kock-trained Light the Lights could prove Benbatl’s chief rival. Another South African import trained by de Kock, Light the Lights beat Championship in his Dubai debut last season, but while he ran creditably the rest of the winter, he took no giant forward steps and could be ready to build on his 2017 foundation this season. Light the Lights was seventh to Benbatl in the Singspiel, but the fact he ran back one week later, winning a high-end handicap, signaled de Kock believed his horse needed racing, and Light the Lights could be ready for his best this time. De Kock has a second runner, Al Sahem, who was a Group 1 winner in South Africa and makes his first start since being imported to Dubai. He should improve with racing. Race 4, a 1,600-meter dirt handicap for horses rated 100 to 115, features the second Dubai start for the exciting American import Kimbear, who romped to a five-length win when rated 104 for his local debut.  Kimbear, a Temple City colt trained by Doug Watson, was a Grade 3 sort of miler type in Southern California, and with his rating bumped to 110 following his last-start romp, Kimbear now meets better stock. Boynton, a Godolphin 4-year-old by More than Ready, makes his dirt debut and looks capable, while Ross got good enough at the 2017 Carnival that he finished second, beaten just a neck, in the $1 million Godolphin Mile.