The Grade 2, $1.4 million, Kyoto Kinen, to be run at Kyoto Racecourse on Sunday at 1 3/8 miles on turf, has become a keen pointer to Japanese hopes in Dubai in recent years. In 2007 Admire Moon won it before taking the Dubai Duty Free. Last year Buena Vista won it beforeher second-place finish in the Dubai Sheema Classic.

Zanzamar was an unlucky runner-up in the Group 3, $250,000 UAE 2000 Guineas at Meydan on Thursday night as Splash Point took advantage of his rival’s trouble in escaping with a one-length victory.

Calvin Borel has been selected to represent the United States in the Meydan Masters jockey competition at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on Feb. 17-18.

The winning rider of three of the last four Kentucky Derbies – aboard Super Saver, Mine That Bird and Street Sense – the 45-year-old Borel will be riding in the United Arab Emirates for the first time in his career.

Southern Hemisphere 3-year-olds, technically 4 years old on the Northern Hemisphere calendar, hold the key to the Group 3, $250,000 UAE 2000 Guineas at Meydan on Thursday night.

The South African-bred Zanzamar, trained by Mike de Kock, looked sharp winning the seven-furlong UAE 2000 Guineas Trial on Jan. 20. By 1 1/4-mile Grand Prix de Paris winner Fort Wood, he should have no trouble staying the Guineas’ extra furlong.

Dim Sum ushered in the Year of the Rabbit before a festive Chinese New Year’s crowd of 96,000 at Sha Tin on Saturday as he held off the late challenge of the 3-5 favorite, Sacred Kingdom, by a neck to land the Group 1, $578,000 Chairman’s Sprint Prize.

Bold Silvano gave trainer Mike de Kock his fourth win of the night with a handy triumph in Round 2 of the Group 3, $200,000 Maktoum Challenge at Meydan on Thursday.

Leading for much of the way through the 1 3/16 miles on Tapeta, Bold Silvano, a 4-year-old South African-bred, allowed the eventual runner-up, Spring of Fame, to assume command on the turn for home before reasserting himself under Christophe Soumillon, who was riding his third winner of the evening.

Sacred Kingdom, Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year in 2010, will step back up to six furlongs on Saturday at Sha Tin in the $577,000 Chairman’s Sprint Prize, a Hong Kong Group 1 sprint he won in 2008 and 2010.

An Australian-bred 7-year-old, Sacred Kingdom snapped a two-race losing streak last out in taking the five-furlong Centenary Sprint Cup and will go off as the short-priced favorite on Saturday with Brett Prebble riding.

Round 2 of the Group 3, $200,000 Maktoum Challenge at 1 3/16 miles on the Meydan Tapeta surface on Thursday night is the second local step on the road to the $10 million Dubai World Cup. And while it goes without Godolphin’s Round 1 winner Mendip, who has opted for Round 3 on March 3, it will include five Group 1 or Grade 1 winners from five different countries.

Beauty Flash confirmed his recently acquired position as the Hong Kong’s leading miler at Sha Tin on Sunday, although he had to work much harder to win the $1 million Stewards Cup than he did when winning the more prestigious Hong Kong Mile on Dec. 12.

Beauty Flash will attempt to add to his Dec. 12 Hong Kong Mile success at Sha Tin on Sunday in the $1 million Stewards Cup Mile. A Tony Cruz-trained New Zealand-bred gelding, Beauty Flash had five of his Sunday rivals behind him last time, as well as European Group 1 winners Sahpresa, Beethoven, and Paco Boy, and should get the job done with Gerald Mosse in the irons.