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.

Presvis returned to form at Meydan Thursday night when he swept to a last-to-first 4 3/4-length victory in the Group 2, $200,000 Al Rashidiya, a 1 1/8-mile course-and-distance prep for the $5 million Dubai Duty Free.

Trainer Mike de Kock is always the danger man in Dubai, and he will be cast in that role at Meydan on Thursday night when he saddles Irish Flame in the Group 2, $200,000 Al Rashidiya, a course-and-distance prep for the 1 1/8-mile, $5 million Dubai Duty Free on March 27.

Aspectoflove outdueled longshot Thai Haku in the $200,000 Cape Verdi Stakes at Meydan on Thursday night as the luckless favorite River Jetez closed with a rush for third in the one-mile Group 2 race for fillies and mares.

A neck separated Aspectoflove and Thai Haku at the line as the winner covered the mile in 136.52 on good ground. River Jetez, a Group 1 winner in South Africa, tried to come up the rail in midstretch but found no room behind the dueling leaders. Angled out by Christophe Soumillon, River Jetez finished best of all to be third, just a nose behind the runner-up.

Deem renews her partnership with Olivier Peslier at Meydan on Thursday night when the lightly raced 6-year-old mare should start as the favorite in the Group 2, $200,000 Cape Verdi Stakes at a mile on turf. The Irish-bred daughter of Dalakhani and the French rider combined to win the 1 1/8-mile, Group 3 Balanchine Stakes here last February. Since then, the Jerry Barton trainee was a game fourth behind Dar Re Mi and Buena Vista in the 1 1/2-mile Dubai Sheema Classic.