There are several rich races with tendrils climbing toward the March 28 Dubai World Cup program on the seven-race card Thursday night at Meydan, but only one of them includes a horse with a chance of making it to North America this spring.

The race is the $250,000 UAE 2000 Guineas, and the horse is Mubtaahij, a 3-year-old Irish-bred colt trained by Mike de Kock who has made a strong enough impression since being switched to dirt this winter that his connections nominated him to the American Triple Crown. 

Frankyfourfingers never had won a race of note when the Dubai World Cup Carnival began in January, and his trainer, Salem bin Ghadayer, never had won a race, period. But Thursday at Meydan, the pair teamed up to capture the Group 2, $250,000 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2, a breakthrough for both horse and trainer.

African Story, making his first start since winning the 2014 Dubai World Cup, never was a factor, finishing seventh.

When African Story last raced, he won the $10 million Dubai World Cup, but when he steps out onto the racetrack Thursday night at Meydan for his first start since March, there will be one very serious difference: The surface beneath African Story’s feet will be dirt.

Not long after African Story swept to victory in the World Cup, up came the Tapeta all-weather track surface installed when Meydan opened its palatial doors in 2010, and in came dirt, the surface over which internationally meaningful racing in Dubai got started at the old Nad al Sheba track.

Vercingetorix, away since April, returned to the races with a two-length win over True Story in the Group 2, $200,000 Al Rashidiya Stakes on Thursday night at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. The comeback run suggests that the South African-bred could be a force in the more important middle-distance turf races in February and March.

There are some familiar names — and very good horses - on the Thursday card at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, with Vercingetorix’s appearance in the Group 2, $200,000 Al Rashidiya Stakes highlighting the action.

Bayern, Toast of New York, California Chrome, and Shared Belief - the first four finishers of the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 - are among 296 horses from 15 countries nominated for the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates.

The $10 million Dubai World Cup is one of eight Thoroughbred stakes worth at least $1 million at Meydan on March 28. There are 24 horses from the United States nominated for the Dubai World Cup, which will be run at 1 1/4 miles on dirt.

Safety Check did not pan out during the 2014 Dubai World Cup Carnival as a 3-year-old hope for the all-weather UAE Derby, a race in which he finished 10^th, but things are rolling along much more smoothly for Safety Check on the Meydan turf course this winter. A sharp winner of a turf handicap on Jan. 8, Safety Check improved on that form Thursday and won the Group 2, $250,000 Al Fahidi Fort by four lengths.

Ace South African trainer Mike de Kock has a three-headed monster ready to attack Thursday night at Meydan in the featured sixth race, the Group 2, $250,000 Al Fahidi Fort over about seven furlongs on turf.

The de Kock-trained winner of the 2014 Al Fahidi Fort, Anaerobio, is back for a repeat bid Thursday, and de Kock also sends out the South African import Red Ray for his Dubai debut. De Kock’s third horse is Zahee, whose form is somewhat clouded by a poor run last out over the new Meydan dirt track.

Team Valor issued a news release Tuesday morning announcing that Beverly D. winner Euro Charline will be aimed at the $6 million Dubai Turf (formerly known as the Dubai Duty Free) on the March 28 Dubai World Cup card.

Euro Charline, 4, hasn't raced since she won the Aug. 16 Beverly D. at Arlington. Subsequently turned over from trainer Marco Botti to Todd Pletcher, Euro Charline underwent surgery on an injured hind ankle before she could race again in the United States and was sent back to Botti in England this past fall.

The 9-year-old gelding Reynaldothewizard won for the first time in nearly two years in Thursday’s $150,000 Dubawi Stakes over six furlongs at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, a performance that could lead to a start in the $2 million Golden Shaheen for sprinters on March 28.

Reynaldothewizard won the 2013 Golden Shaheen but was winless in three starts in the United Arab Emirates in 2014. Reynaldothewizard was fourth in the 2014 Golden Shaheen.