The Dubai Racing Carnival kicks off the stakes race season at Meydan Racecourse on Thursday. The Emirates Racing Authority will present 28 black-type races on 13 evenings of racing at Meydan between then and Saturday, March 26, the date of the 16th running of the Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest race at $10 million.

The 28 stakes at Meydan this year include four Group 1’s, 11 Group 2’s, eight Group 3’s, and five listed races worth a total of $30.6 million. The seven group races on Dubai World Cup Night have a total value of $26 million.

Buena Vista was named Horse of the Year by the Japan Racing Association on Friday despite having lost her last two starts. Trained by Hiroyoshi Matsuda for Sunday Racing Co. Ltd., the 4-year-old daughter of Special Week began the year with a victory in the Grade 2 Kyoto Kinen, but was then an unlucky second to Dar Re Mi in the Dubai Sheema Classic. Back in Japan she won a pair of Grade 1’s, the Victoria Mile and the Autumn Tenno Sho, before crossing the line first in the Japan Cup, only to suffer a controversial disqualification for which she was placed second to Rose Kingdom. On Dec.

Baron Thierry van Zuylen, the Dutch banker who was part owner of Perrault, winner of the 1982 Eclipse Award as best turf horse, died in London on Sunday at the age of 78. Van Zuylen, who owned the Charlie Whittingham-trained Perrault in partnership with Serge Fradkoff, had been a leading figure on the French racing scene for more than 50 years.

At $10 million, the Dubai World Cup was once again the world’s richest race in 2010. Run at the new Meydan Racecourse for the first time, the World Cup received a $4 million purse increase this year, giving it some breathing room over the Melbourne Cup, which, thanks to a rise in purse money and the strength of the Australian dollar, jumped from $4.9 million in 2009 to $5.9 million and from sixth to second place.

Grand Prix Boss came with a late rush to win Japan’s premier juvenile contest, the $1.6 million Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes at Nakayama on Sunday, as he ran down a pair highly regarded colts from the first crop of Deep Impact.

Two colts from the first crop of Deep Impact, Real Impact and Libertas, should feature prominently at Nakayama on Sunday in the $1.6 million Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes, Japan’s definitive juvenile event.

The road from Hong Kong apparently leads directly to Dubai. Two of Sunday’s big winners on Hong Kong International Raceday at Sha Tin, Snow Fairy and Mastery, are under serious consideration for races on the $26 million Dubai World Cup card at Meydan on March 26.

Snow Fairy, who won her fourth Group 1 race of the year in four different countries when taking the 1 1/4-mile Hong Kong Cup, is looking at the Dubai World Cup, while Godolphin is taking dead aim at the Dubai Sheema Classic with their 1 1/2-mile Hong Kong Vase winner Mastery.

Snow Fairy was dubbed the “Queen of the Orient” as she scored her second Group 1 triumph in the Far East at Sha Tin on Sunday when her bold run in traffic resulted in victory in the $2.5 million Hong Kong Cup.

Meanwhile, Mastery gave British-trained horses a second triumph on Hong Kong International Raceday as he landed the $2 million Hong Kong Vase in which the Christophe Clement-trained Winchester backed up to finish 11th of 13.

Winchester faces a power-packed lineup in the $1.8 million Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin on Sunday. The 1 1/2-mile turf contest will be the first of four Group 1 races on Hong Kong International Raceday, an event that has attracted 24 international Group or Grade 1 winners.

Ryan Moore, the two-time Breeders’ Cup-winning British rider, got the better of local champion Doug Whyte in a thrilling finish to the final race to land the 13th Cathay Pacific International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley, Hong Kong, on Wednesday evening.

Julien Leparoux, the American representative in a field of 12 of the world’s top pilots, made little impact on the four-race competition. His best result was aboard Travel Guide, who finished fifth, just under two lengths behind the Whyte-partnered My Goal, in the third leg.