Johannesburg heads a list of seventeen nominees to the Fosters-International Trial Stakes, the proposed Kentucky Derby prep which will be run at Lingfield Park on Saturday.

Sunday's meeting at Longchamp, featuring the Group 2 Prix d'Harcourt, has been saved as French parimutuel clerks have withdrawn their threat of a strike that day.

But Saturday's meeting at Saint-Cloud, canceled on Thursday, will not be run, and future meetings remain under threat until a wage agreement between the clerks and France Galop can be hammered out in a negotiating session on Wednesday.

The Prix de Courcelles and the Prix Lord Seymour, listed races originally scheduled for Thursday's canceled meeting at Longchamp, will now be run on Sunday's 10-race card.

The first meeting of the year at Longchamp, France's most important racecourse, was cancelled Thursday because of a strike by parimutuel clerks.

ARCADIA, Calif. - A week in Dubai makes one appreciate the privileges sometimes taken for granted in American racing.

In Dubai, one is not allowed to observe the daily training of the Godolphin runners, except for a sanitized "media day" at Al Quoz training center. Can you imagine handicapping a race card in the United States without accurate workout information?

In Dubai, interior fractions are not available. Can you imagine handicapping a race card in the United States without pace figures?

The traditional late-starting racing season may confound European efforts to win the Kentucky Derby, but it has the built-in benefit of producing fresh horses for the big international autumn events. While America's Triple Crown runners will be flagging by midsummer, Europe's big names will still be relatively fresh come the first day of fall.

The first meeting of the year at Longchamp, France's most important racecourse, was cancelled Thursday due to a strike by parimutuel clerks.

Timeform has given Street Cry a rating of 127+ for his 4 1/4-length victory in the Dubai World Cup on Saturday night. While that is the best figure awarded on the card, it is only marginally better than Captain Steve's 127 last year, the "+" meaning that Timeform believes Street Cry may be better than they have rated him.

But Street Cry's rating pales when compared to the 142 earned by Dubai Millennium in his 2000 World Cup triumph. Almutawakel got a 126 for his win in 1999, so Timeform apparently does not think that Street Cry is quite ready to conquer the world.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The road to the Dubai winner's circle apparently begins in California. Four of the six Dubai World Cup winners on Saturday night at Nad Al Sheba - Street Cry, Caller One, Essence of Dubai, and Grey Memo - began their careers on the West Coast.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - It was the Saudi Arabian desert, but the Dubai World Cup program had a distinct American flavor Saturday night at Nad Al Sheba.

Dubai has hit the geography lottery twice. It is the only natural deep-water port in the Persian Gulf, featuring a huge creek that bisects the city. In the 1800's, that made it a key stop for trading ships on the Britain-India route.