A key player on Super Saturday at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai was, unfortunately, Meydan Racecourse itself. Four of the seven races Saturday, including the featured Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3, were contested on a dirt track that was wickedly fast and heavily biased toward inside speed. Two track records fell, including California Chrome’s 2:01.83 mark for 2,000 meters from the 2016 Dubai World Cup, which North America eclipsed in the Group 1, $400,000 Al Maktoum Challenge by running the distance in 2:01.71. North America was one of two stakes winners on the card, along with Yulong Warrior in the Al Bastakiya, for trainer Satish Seemar and jockey Richard Mullen. North America went straight to the front and put away the chasing favorite, Thunder Snow, after turning into the homestretch, going on to a 5 1/4-length win and earning a spot in the $10 million Dubai World Cup. Thunder Snow stalked the pace under Oisin Murphy, who was filling in for the suspended Christophe Soumillon, and though Murphy did his best to maneuver Thunder Snow into a contending position, he could not come close to overcoming both a strong bias and a strong performance from North America. The 6-year-old gelding by Dubawi out of the Yankee Victor mare Northern Mischief scored the biggest win of his career, paying $11.40 to win in North American parimutuel wagering. Godolphin’s Thunder Snow, who had won Round 2 of the Al Maktoum Challenge, could conceivably come back for the World Cup, but Godolphin has the France-based Talismanic for that race, and Thunder Snow also is a candidate for the $6 million Dubai Turf over about 1 1/8 miles. While Thunder Snow couldn’t get the job done, Godolphin had an excellent night anyway, with Charlie Appleby-trained horses winning all three turf stakes on the card. Jungle Cat started the proceedings, scoring a very serious 2 1/4-length victory over odds-on favorite Ertijaal in the $200,000 Nad Al Sheba Sprint. Jungle Cat, with William Buick in the irons, was cutting back from a 1,400-meter Meydan race around one turn to run 1,200 meters down a straight course, but he showed plenty of positional pace and had Ertijaal measured 1 1/2 furlongs from the finish. Over a turf course just as quick as the dirt track, Jungle Cat was timed in a course-record 1:08.24. Fourth in the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint the last two Dubai World Cup cards, Jungle Cat might well be the horse to beat in the race this year. In the Group 1, $300,000 Jebel Hatta over about 1 1/8 miles, it was longshot Blair House upsetting his Appleby-trained stablemate, the favored Benbatl, with a three-quarter-length win under James Doyle. Blair House, a 5-year-old gelding by Pivotal and out of Patroness, by Dubawi, is spending his first winter in Dubai and evidently likes it quite a bit. Blair House was coming off a mere handicap-race win on Feb. 17 and was making his first start in a group stakes of any sort. Doyle engineered a good trip, racing in midpack while covered up and not too far from the fence and, with a quick move about a furlong out, took the measure of Benbatl. The latter, who won a photo with Janoobi for second, raced very wide around the far turn and into the homestretch and might well have lost this race on the trip. Godolphin horses trained by Appleby ran one-two in the Group 1, $300,000 Dubai City of Gold, a prep for the $6 million Sheema Classic, with the favored Hawkbill, under Buick, holding resolutely to beat his less heralded stablemate Frontiersman by a head. Hawkbill was racing for the first time since taking a narrow loss in the Grade 1 Canadian International on Sept. 26 at Woodbine, and to further increase his degree of difficulty, he found no cover and was hung wide on both turns. But Hawkbill was the best, most accomplished horse in the City of Gold, and after getting his head in front of the pacesetting Frontiersman in midstretch, he refused to yield his advantage even when Frontiersman stayed gamely in the fight. Expect to see both horses back for the Sheema Classic in three weeks. Jordan Sport set a 1,200-meter (about six furlongs) track record of 1:10.18 in romping to victory in the Group 3, $200,000 Mahab al Shimaal, a prep for the $2 million Golden Shaheen. Jordan Sport was making his dirt debut and was up in class, but he seized an early inside lead under Adrie de Vries and, despite setting a strong pace, never wavered, winning by 7 1/4 lengths over Yalta. Wild Dude rallied mildly up the rail for third, and old hand Krypton Warrior was fourth. Fawzi Nass owns and trains Jordan Sport, a 5-year-old gelding by Dubawi and out of the Tiger Hill mare Wonder Why. The water will get deeper for him facing Americans in the Golden Shaheen. It was another dirt romp in the $250,000 Al Bastakiya, a prep for the $2 million UAE Derby, as Yulong Warrior went to the lead and rolled to an 11 1/4-length win, clocking 1:58.05 for 1,900 meters (about 1 3/16 miles). Nordic Defense and Rua Augusta, a pair of huge longshots, completed the top three placings as the favored Masar didn’t run a step in his dirt debut, finishing 10th. Yulong Warrior, by Street Cry and out of the Bernardini mare Mahkama, raced on turf in Europe as a 2-year-old, and after finishing fifth trying dirt for the first time in January, he won a maiden by a little more than a length Feb. 3 at Meydan. It was hard to see Saturday’s performance coming, and Gold Town, the leading 3-year-old dirt horse in Dubai, stayed in Appleby’s barn Saturday in order to come into the UAE Derby a fresh horse.