DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – It’s been an eventful several days for trainer Mike de Kock, the South African whose total of nine wins in World Cup races is second only to the 27 that Saeed bin Suroor has amassed from 212 runners. Bold Silvano, among the top older horses in Dubai this winter, was taken out of World Cup consideration last weekend after suffering what was called a minor injury during routine morning exercise.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Fourteen horses were entered Wednesday evening in the $10 million Dubai World Cup, the crown jewel of Saturday night’s eight-stakes racing program worth $26,250,000 in prize money. View Entries >>

Everyone was pleased with their post position. All the horses are doing well.

Or so went the tale told during a typically lavish Dubai draw ceremony, held at an IMAX theater housed between the grandstand and the Meydan hotel.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Gio Ponti did not go fast enough to record a timed workout, but two-minute licked six furlongs Wednesday morning at Meydan, picking up the pace about 1,000 meters before the finish and going out 200 meters past it, according to Christophe Lorieul, assistant to trainer Christophe Clement and Gio Ponti’s rider in Dubai. A two-minute lick pace is faster than a gallop but slower than full workout speed.

“I was very happy with him,” Lorieul said later Wednesday morning. “He was handling the track very well, and was within himself and on the bridle.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Bob Baffert likes to nickname his horses, at least in the media. Real Quiet, for instance, Baffert called The Fish, so narrow was the colt when seen head-on.

Euroears, the horse Baffert has followed to Dubai for Saturday night’s $2 million Golden Shaheen?

“I call him The Natural,” Baffert said.

DUBAI WORLD CUP: Watch Saturday's races live, plus get video updates and free PPs

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Do you, racing fan, prefer your equine star to flame brightly for one night in the sky, never to rise again? Or would you rather gaze out into the dark assured of finding your star shining steadily in its usual spot? Cast aside metaphor, and the question is this: How much do you appreciate Gio Ponti?

The devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11 continues to play havoc with the Japanese racing schedule. On Tuesday, the Japan Racing Association announced that all April meetings at Nakayama, east of Tokyo, and at Fukushima, the track nearest to the quake epicenter, have been canceled.

Gitano Hernando, the 2009 winner of Santa Anita’s Goodwood Stakes and one of 14 entries in Saturday’s $10 million Dubai World Cup, has been sold by Team Valor and Gary Barber to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov for what is believed to be $4 million.

The deal, brokered by British bloodstock agent Robert Harrison, will eventually see the 5-year-old son of Hernando switched to South African-based trainer Herman Brown. Gitano Hernando will, however, be saddled for the World Cup by his current trainer, the Newmarket-based Marco Botti.

Deep fields and a number of principals trying to win multi-million dollar races off long layoffs at Meydan on Saturday night will make for a number of intriguing betting contests on the Dubai World Cup card.

Dubai World Cup

Perhaps most interesting of all will be whether horses like Gio Ponti, Cape Blanco, and Buena Vista, all practiced on turf, can handle the switch to Tapeta while at the same time trying to win the World Cup off a winter vacation.

Turmoil struck the run-up to Dubai World Cup Night over the weekend when two of the most highly regarded horses on the card, Bold Silvano and Snow Fairy, were withdrawn from their respective races.

Bold Silvano, second favorite behind Twice Over for the Dubai World Cup, suffered “a tweak or pulled something” according to trainer Mike de Kock, and will miss the world’s richest race. On Saturday, trainer Ed Dunlop took four-time Group 1 winner and Dubai Sheema Classic favorite Snow Fairy out of that race after the filly suffered a minor injury to her right front cannon bone.

Polytechnicien proved a comfortable 2.20-1 winner of the Group 3, $111,000 Prix Exbury at Saint-Cloud on Saturday. The 5-year-old son of Royal Academy came from just off the pace to defeat the 5-2 Cirrus des Aigles by a half-length under Olivier Peslier, clocking 2:10.50 for the 1 1/4 miles on soft ground.