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December Draw, a stakes winner earlier this month at Flemington Racecourse, will be a strong favorite to win Saturday’s Group 1 Caulfield Cup in Australia, a key prep to next month’s Melbourne Cup.

Nothing boosts the prominence of a newly created day of major stakes more than an appearance by a nation’s leading horse.

When the unbeaten Frankel starts in Saturday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, the eight-time winner gives the first-year British Champions Series a showcase runner that promoters could only dream of attracting when the event was announced last year.

Sponsored by QIPCO, a private investment firm in Qatar, the six-race program features five stakes worth approximately $4.6 million and will be the richest day of racing in British history.

Melbourne's Caulfield Cup Festival continues Wednesday as some of Australia's best 3-year-old fillies take center stage in the Group 1, $511,000 Schweppes One Thousand Guineas.

Heading the expected field of 12 is Atlantic Jewel, an undefeated Fastnet Rock filly owned by Coolmore and trained by man of the moment Mark Kavanagh, who also trains the current heavy Caulfield Cup favorite, December Draw. Atlantic Jewel, who has displayed an electric turn of foot, must handle a rise in class as she is facing group company for the first time in the Guineas against some accomplished foes.

The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, Danedream, will not travel to the United States for Breeders’ Cup start, her connections have decided.

“We are not sure if she is going to race this year any more, but if she is going to race, she is going to Japan,” Gisela Schiergen, wife of trainer Peter Schiergen and an active participant in Schiergen’s racing operation, said Monday.

Nayarra, the only transnational shipper in the race, captured the Group 1 Premio Gran Criterium by a half-length on Sunday at San Siro in Italy.

Nayarra, ridden to victory by Martin Dwyer and trained by Mick Channon, came into the Gran Criterium an eight-race maiden who had been mildly competitive with Group 3 types in England, but emerged victorious in a race worth a almost $400,000. He became the eighth consecutive England-based winner of Italy’s most important race for 2-year-olds.

Parish Hall, who had been second in two group stakes in Ireland during the summer, pulled a 20-1 upset in Saturday’s Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, England, beating favored Power by a half-length.

Black Caviar, Australia’s reigning Horse of the Year, extended her unbeaten streak to 14 races in Saturday’s Group 2 Schillaci Stakes at Caulfield, Australia. Black Caviar’s streak now equals the longest winning streak of the mighty Phar Lap, who won 14 straight in 1930-31.

The Group 1 Premio Gran Criterium, Italy’s most important race for 2-year-olds, often attracts a good horse from an internationally known stable. Last year, for instance, the Godolphin-owned Biondetti won the Gran Criterium and went on to finish a respectable fourth behind Uncle Mo in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But for whatever reason, this year’s edition of the race, scheduled for Sunday at San Siro, failed to attract any serious ship-ins, and drew a field of only seven.

A new $1 million race has been added to the Dubai World Cup program at Meydan Racecourse next March, but it is unlikely to figure prominently among American invaders.

Meydan officials announced on Thursday that the $1 million Dubai Gold Cup over about two miles on turf will be added to the World Cup card on March 31. The race will be part of a nine-race program, which will feature eight races for Thoroughbreds and one for Arabians.

With the new race, prize money on the Dubai World Cup program will be $27.25 million.