The Dubai World Cup at Meydan on Saturday obviously is hard to analyze from a Beyer Speed Figure perspective because just half the field has raced in the U.S. I have no way of knowing how Japanese sensation Hokko Tarumae might match up with the Americans, or exactly what his $10.3 million in earnings means. I have to believe that if California Chrome runs to his best Beyers, the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner is going to be very difficult to beat. California Chrome is a triple-digit Beyer freak and has been since early in his 3-year-old season, topping out with a career-best 113 in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic. His only poor races have come when he was stuck inside during the running. That should not be an issue at Meydan with his outside post. California Chrome got a 105 Beyer in his lone U.S. start last year and a 104 in his only U.S. start this year. He obviously ran quite well when second in the World Cup last year and was an easy winner in his Meydan try last month. This is the race trainer Art Sherman has been pointing him to all along, the race where his horse of a lifetime should be at his absolute best. I think that translates to something like the Meydan version of a 110 Beyer. None of the other Americans has ever gone that fast. Frosted and Hoppertunity are each on long triple-digit Beyer rolls, the former with a 104, 101, 106, 103 series and a dominating Meydan win, the latter with a 102, 104, 103, 100, 105 series. However, they are a combined 9 for 32. When Chrome fires, he usually wins, and he is 11 for 20. Mshawish has been a dirt revelation with a 102, 104, 106 series, but this is a different class of horses. Candy Boy was good enough to get three triple-digit Beyers late in his 3-year-old season but has not run since a decent fourth in last year’s World Cup. Keen Ice had his Warhol moment in beating American Pharoah in the 2015 Travers and will be the answer to a trivia question some day. His 106, 104, 102, 100 series and dull seventh early this month at Meydan do not inspire confidence that he has another moment in him. Mubtaahij dominated on this surface a year ago, but it was against a suspect group, and he subsequently posted 91 and 95 Beyers when far behind American Pharoah in the 2015 Derby and Belmont Stakes. ◗ I don’t think the Kentucky Derby winner is running in the Louisiana Derby on Saturday at Fair Grounds. A 95 Beyer is my cutoff at this point of the process, and only two of these horses have ever hit 90 on the Beyer scale. Gun Runner got just a 90 when he won Risen Star. Greenpointcrusader, to me, is the more intriguing horse. He was good enough to get a 94 in the Champagne last year, and his 90 when second to Mohaymen in the Holy Bull was encouraging. If this colt is going to move forward and become a Derby contender, this would be the spot. Mo Tom was going to be closer or maybe even win the Risen Star had he not encountered stretch trouble, but it is hard to be sure exactly what was going to happen. His 85, 88, 87 graded-stakes series is a bit lacking, but given how much his momentum was stopped in the last race, he certainly could go better than his Beyers suggest. Candy My Boy looks loose on the lead again, but his 85 and 86 in 2016 tell a story. Forevamo is interesting because he is clearly getting better. Another Beyer jump like the last one, when he went from an 81 to an 89, could put him in the winner’s circle. ◗ Land Over Sea has seen enough of Songbird. Actually, she has never really seen Songbird, even though she has run against her five straight times, losing by a total of 34 lengths but getting three seconds in graded stakes. The Beyers – 82, 77, 77, 88 – are not overwhelming, but they make her a clear contender in a slow Fair Grounds Oaks on Saturday. Stageplay had omni figs in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes not because she was so fast but because the others were so slow. Her 88, 83, 82, 82 series stood out. Then, she was a bad fifth in the Rachel Alexandra with a 67. It looked to me like jockey Florent Geroux gave her a rare impatient ride, moving into the hottest part of the pace on the turn, when waiting in a suspect field might have been more prudent. That said, Stageplay was not facing much and did not have much in the stretch. It is hard to be excited with her as the morning-line favorite.