At $5 million each, the Dubai Duty Free and the Sheema Classic are half as lucrative as the Dubai World Cup, but both races – the Duty Free in particular – drew fields every bit as strong and deep as the main event Saturday night in Dubai.

The Duty Free, at about 1 1/8 miles on turf, boasts the strongest field in the race’s 14-year history. Among the 13 entrants are two mares familiar to American racing fans: Dank won the Beverly D. and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last year, while The Fugue finished second as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Good luck seems to have deserted Ron the Greek in advance of world-class races in recent months.

Back in November, Ron the Greek missed the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita after a quarter crack surfaced days before the race. He was considered a contender for the richest race in the United States.

Two of the better-known entrants in a Dubai World Cup lacking big names drew bookend post positions when the five Group 1 races on Saturday’s Dubai World Cup card were drawn Wednesday.

American export Ron the Greek landed the outside post in a 16-horse field, while Prince Bishop, the leading money earner at this year’s Dubai World Cup Carnival, breaks from post 1.

Final declarations for the eight Thoroughbred races on Saturday’s Dubai World Cup card were released Monday, and the $10 million World Cup is on track to go with a full field of 16 runners.

Post positions were drawn Monday for the three non-Group 1 races on the card, but the final fields with post positions won’t be revealed for the card’s four Group 1 races, including the World Cup, until Wednesday.

The Dubai Racing Club on Sunday released likely fields for the eight Thoroughbred races on the March 29 Dubai World Cup program, and though North American participation is sorely lacking this year, the list of prospective starters is star-studded, and the races remarkably deep.

Lord Windermere closed from last in a field of 13 and survived a stewards’ inquiry for a historic win in Friday’s $913,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup at Cheltenham Racecourse in western England.

A 20-1 outsider, Lord Windermere finished a short head in front of 16-1 On His Own, but drifted to the right between the last of 22 fences and the finish. The order of finish was not changed after the inquiry.

Breeders’ Cup has assigned its director of racing and nominations to work in Europe for six months this year, the organization announced on Friday, underlining its efforts to drum up participation from overseas horsemen and seek new growth in foreign betting markets.

More of That, a 6-year-old gelding making his fifth start, scored a minor upset in Thursday’s $457,000 World Hurdle at Cheltenham, holding off a sustained threat from the previously unbeaten mare Annie Power in the three-mile race.

More of That, ridden by Barry Geraghty for trainer Jonjo O’Neill, won by 1 1/2 lengths as a 15-2 shot over Annie Power, the 11-8 favorite. At Fishers Cross, a 9-1 chance, finished third in the field of 10.

Bob’s Worth will be a strong favorite to win the  $913,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup for the second consecutive year on Friday, and give trainer Nicky Henderson a third win in the last four years in the prestigious steeplechase race.

As of Wednesday, Bob’s Worth was the 13-8 favorite to win the Gold Cup, run over 3 1/4 miles and 22 fences. Bob’s Worth, a 9-year-old gelding by Bob Back, will be ridden by regular rider Barry Geraghty in a field of 14.

The Gold Cup is the leading race of the fourth and final day of the National Hunt festival at Cheltenham.

Big Buck’s won the three-mile World Hurdle at Cheltenham Racecourse for four consecutive years from 2009-12 before being sidelined with a tendon injury in late 2012. More than a year after the injury was detected, the 11-year-old Big Buck’s is back racing, and back at Cheltenham in western England for Thursday’s $457,000 World Hurdle.

There are doubts that Big Buck’s can be as effective as he was during an 18-race winning streak that began in January 2009 and ended with a third in his comeback race, the three-mile Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham on Jan. 25.