A pair of globetrotting half-siblings are set to meet once again on a major world stage Saturday, as Lani and Awardee contest the $10 million Dubai World Cup.

The two previously met in the Group 1 Champions Cup, formerly the Japan Cup Dirt, in December. Sound Wave defeated the favored Awardee by a neck in the prestigious event; back in ninth was Awardee’s younger half-brother, Lani. Awardee comes into the World Cup having not raced since December, when he was second in the Group 1 Tokyo Daishoten. Lani was unplaced in a local prep this month.

A solid group of stallions with high hopes entered stud in 2013, lending the possibility of some new blood on this year’s Triple Crown trail. So far, the group has delivered. Four stallions have first-crop representatives in the top 20 of the Kentucky Derby point standings, with others knocking on the door.

One of the most significant long-term benefits of beginning my career in the horse business at Windfields Farm in the early 1970s was the opportunity to acquire first-hand knowledge some of the most significant contributors to the breed of the 20th century. In addition to the great stallions Northern Dancer and Halo, Windfields was home to a treasure trove of great broodmares, including Natalma (dam of Northern Dancer), Flaming Page (Nijinsky II), Sex Appeal (El Gran Senor, Try My Best), Fleur (The Minstrel), and Ballade (Glorious Song, Devil’s Bag, Saint Ballado), among many others.

When Malagacy kicked clear in the stretch of Saturday’s Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, he put himself near the top of the Kentucky Derby points leaderboard for a rising owner who already has close ties to two Derby winners.

Two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome will shuttle to Oussama Aboughazale’s Haras Sumaya in Chile for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season.

California Chrome, a 6-year-old son of Lucky Pulpit, is in the midst of his debut season at Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, Ky., where he stands for an advertised fee of $40,000. Aboughazale stands his homebred Grade 2 winner Protonico at the same farm.

The unraced mare Churchita, with her owner and trainer, Ashley Gubich, earned honors as “Colorado’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred” last Saturday at the competition designed to showcase the trainability and versatility of local off-the-track Thoroughbreds.

The competition, now in its third year, is held during the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo at the National Western Complex in Denver and is presented by the Retired Racehorse Project, Arapahoe Park and Mile High Racing, and the Colorado chapter of the Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses (CANTER).

American Anthem

Bodemeister – Indy’s Windy, by A. P. Indy

(Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm; $435,000 purchase by WinStar and China Horse Club at 2016 OBS March 2-year-old sale)

The hard-knocking Mobile Bay was among the honorees as the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association announced the results of voting in various categories for the 2016 Accredited Louisiana-Bred Champions.

The state’s divisional champions and Broodmare of the Year award are selected by a vote of the membership, while honors for leading stallions and leading breeders are based on statistics. The winners will be honored at the organization’s annual meeting, June 10 at Evangeline Downs; Louisiana-bred Horse of the Year honors will also be revealed that night.

Several Florida-breds who have acquitted themselves well against open company, led by the promising colt Three Rules, were among the honorees as the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association recognized its Florida-bred champions for 2016 at its annual awards banquet and gala Monday night in Ocala.

Sadly, Mastery’s reign as the probable favorite for the 2017 Kentucky Derby favorite did not last as long as it took him to earn that position. His 6 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes was easily the most impressive performance of any 3-year-old colt this year, but less than 30 seconds later, Mike Smith pulled him up and jumped off when he felt the muscular Candy Ride colt take a bad step about 10 strides past the wire.

Mastery had suffered a fracture to a front leg and underwent surgery on Monday, with an uncertain prognosis.