Michael Jarvis, one of Britain’s leading trainers for many decades, announced his imminent retirement on Tuesday because of ill health. The trainer of Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Carroll House and five-time Group 1 winner Rakti, Jarvis suffers from prostate cancer and has recently undergone heart surgery.

Mahbooba appears to have her six rivals in the Group 3, $250,000 UAE Oaks over a barrel at Meydan on Thursday night. The Australian-bred Mike de Kock-trained Mahbooba whistled three weeks ago when taking the UAE 1000 Guineas by 3 3/4 lengths. At 1 3/16 miles, the Oaks is 3/16 of a mile longer than the Guineas, but that should only work to the advantage of Mahbooba, a daughter of Galileo.

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Snow, freezing temperatures, and high winds aren’t the only types of extreme weather that can force the cancellation a day’s racing. Friday’s card at Riccarton Park in Christchurch, New Zealand has been called off after an earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter Scale struck the area on Tuesday afternoon.

Greg Purcell, chief executive of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, said that no serious damage to the racecourse or the grandstand has been reported, but that the facilities will be thoroughly inspected before the next meeting is allowed to proceed.

Connections of Transcend are angling for an invitation to the Dubai World Cup after the 5-year-old son of Wild Rush led throughout to win the Grade 1, $2.2 million February Stakes at Tokyo on Sunday.

Already invited to the Godolphin Mile on World Cup Night, Transcend prevailed in the one-mile February by 1 1/2 lengths over Furioso as the 5-2 favorite. The winning time for the dirt mile was 1:36.40.

Calvin Borel won the Meydan Masters International jockey competition at Meydan Racecourse on Friday, a night when trainer Mike de Kock scored a one-two knockout in the Group 2, $200,000 Balanchine Stakes with River Jetez and Reem.

Transcend will prepare for his March 26 date in the Godolphin Mile at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday when he takes on Furioso in the $2.2 million February Stakes, a Grade 1 one-mile dirt race that his been won in recent years by Japanese dirt champions Espoir City and Kane Hekili.

Derbaas held off the late challenge of Raihana to win the Group 2, $250,000 Al Fahidi Fort on Thursday night at Meydan, where Calvin Borel leads the Meydan Masters jockey challenge after the first two legs of the four-race series.

The in-form Aspectoflove meets the off-the-layoff Strawberrydaiquiri in an intriguing running of the Group 2, $200,000 Balanchine Stakes at Meydan on Friday night when Calvin Borel will ride in legs 3 and 4 of the Meydan Masters jockey competition.

The Group 2, $250,000 Al Fahidi Fort, the second of three local stepping-stones to the $5 million Dubai Duty Free at Meydan, is a wide open affair Thursday night, lacking a standout, in which a pair of fillies could steal the show. Sharing the bill with the one-mile turf event are the first two legs of the two-night Meydan Masters jockey competition, in which Calvin Borel will represent the United States.

To the Glory signaled that he will be a force to be reckoned with in Japan this year when he beat a top-class field in the Grade 2, $1.4 million Kyoto Kinen at Kyoto Racecourse on Sunday. The 4-year-old son of King Kamehameha defeated the mare Meisho Beluga by three-quarters of a length in the 1 3/8-mile contest, covering the distance in 2:13.90 on firm ground as the 7-5 favorite.