Thursday morning found people in Dubai looking with concern up into the sky. Warnings were issued, flights canceled. But while missile bombardments from Iran into the United Arab Emirates remain a highly concerning possibility, these problems came via a different Supreme Leader, one Mother Nature, who raged across the Arabian Peninsula with gale force wind and torrential rain. The unusual Dubai weather disrupted more than air travel. Connections of the mighty colt Forever Young went forward with a planned workout Wednesday at Meydan Racecourse, but, citing a faster-than-desirable track surface occasioned by the precipitation, Forever Young breezed easier than originally intended. :: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!  While temperatures remain unseasonably low, the rain was expected to clear the area before Friday, and on Saturday, Forever Young will be widely expected to do what he could not one year ago – win the $12 million Dubai World Cup as a heavy favorite. Forever Young faces eight rivals from an ideal post position, 6, in Saturday’s World Cup, the last of eight Thoroughbred races on a card that many assumed would be canceled after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. The war goes on, but so does the World Cup Card. :: Get free Past Performances for Dubai World Cup Day. The World Cup, contested over 2,000 meters, one lap around the Meydan dirt track, has been Forever Young’s goal for a year. And it was in the 2025 World Cup that he suffered his last loss, finishing third as the odds-on favorite behind two American horses, Hit Show and Mixto. Mixto retired without racing again, but Hit Show returns for another go and was joined on a flight from Florida by Magnitude, the leading American hope. The others entered are recent American expat Tumbarumba, who managed third in the Saudi Cup; leading local hope Meydaan; and Imperial Emperor, Walk of Stars, Heart of Honor, and Tap Leader. The World Cup goes at 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the card’s first Thoroughbred race, the American-less Godolphin Mile, set for 8:20 a.m. The UAE Derby includes no American runners, but its winner will earn a berth into the Kentucky Derby. The David Fawkes-trained American turf sprinter Reef Runner won the 1351 Turf Sprint in Saudi Arabia and now tries the Group 1 Al Quoz. Bentornato, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner, leads the Dubai Golden Shaheen, which includes American horses Lovesick Blues and Nakatomi, and while no American horses run in the two major grass races, the Ireland-based Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Ethical Diamond tackles formidable favorite Calandagan in the Sheema Classic. Forever Young won a Breeders’ Cup race, too, capturing the Classic after finishing third in it a year prior. From there, he went on to the $20 million Saudi Cup, scoring what looked like a measured one-length victory over Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos. Another win Saturday and Forever Young, who comes to Dubai with a $29.7 million bankroll, will pass Romantic Warrior, an active Hong Kong star, and become the leading purse-earning Thoroughbred. It was Romantic Warrior who pushed Forever Young to the brink in the 2025 Saudi Cup, an epic battle that seemed to enervate both horses, each of whom took a surprising loss in Dubai. Best race to best race, Hit Show can’t hold a candle to Forever Young, but trainer Yoshito Yahagi, speaking through an interpreter at a Dubai press conference, dismissed the notion that Forever Young comes to Saturday’s contest on a better pattern than in 2025. “It’s actually not helping, to be honest,” Yahagi said. “He can get too relaxed, while this year the Saudi Cup wasn’t a hard race.” The betting markets Thursday did not reflect that sentiment: English bookies had Forever Young a general 1-2 shot. Meydaan was a narrow second choice in that market, owing in part to his English co-trainers, Simon and Ed Crisford, and the 13 starts he’s made in England. Meydaan didn’t prosper during an Australian invasion last fall but did after moving to Dubai and making his dirt debut Feb. 28, blasting home an easy winner of the Group 2 Al Maktoum Classic. Magnitude merits the longest look as an upset candidate, particularly if cool, damp conditions keep the Meydan surface tight and quick. Magnitude, who missed the Saudi Cup after briefly running a fever when scheduled to depart Fair Grounds, is an ascendant 4-year-old, winner of the Nov. 28 Clark by a half-length over Hit Show. His ideal World Cup prep came last month in the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn, same race Gun Runner won before coming to the 2017 World Cup for Magnitude’s connections, Winchell Racing and trainer Steve Asmussen. Gun Runner also won the Clark at 3 and truly blossomed at 4. He ran a winning race at Meydan but still finished second behind an all-time performance from Arrogate. Forever Young could prove Magnitude’s version of Arrogate. Whatever the case, let’s hope all eyes remained trained on the ground rather than the sky Saturday at Meydan. A previous version of this article misstated the post time of the Dubai World Cup. It is 12:45 Eastern, not 12:10. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.