Vodka, a seven-time Grade 1 winner in her native Japan and the highest earning racemare in Thoroughbred history, has been retired after having bled in the Maktoum Challenge at Meydan on Thursday. Trained by Katsuhiko Sumii for Yuzo Tanimizu, Vodka, a 6-year-old daughter of the Brian's Time stallion Tanino Gimlet, earned $13,147,826 in winning 10 of 26 lifetime starts. She will be shipped from Dubai to Ireland to be bred to Sea the Stars at the Aga Khan's Gilltown Stud.

Canadian-bred Sterwins furnished a last-to-first rally to win the $97,000 Sandy Lane Gold Cup at the Garrison Savannah racecourse in Bridgetown, Barbados on Saturday.

In extreme heat and humidity and racing right-handed on a baked turf course, Sterwins, under expert handling by champion jockey Patrick Husbands, swung wide into the homestretch of the 1 1/8-mile event. He was up in the final sixteenth to win by about a half-length over Bribon, last year's Metropolitan Handicap winner.

Aaron Gryder and Kent Desormeaux won a race apiece in the Meydan Masters jockey challenge at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on Friday night, the last meeting at the new track until Dubai World Cup Night on March 27.

Bribon, winner of last year's Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, and Sterwins, a multiple Grade 3 winner, top a field of 14 entered for the 29th Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup at the Garrison Savannah racecourse in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday. Both Bribon and Sterwins are owned by Barbados residents.

The 1 1/8-mile turf event, run over a right-handed course with tight turns, is worth $97,000 and is the most important race run in Barbados.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Vale of York failed in his return to the races at Meydan on Thursday night as he faded to fifth in the listed $250,000 Al Bastakiya, a course and distance prep for the 1 3/16-mile UAE Derby. Vale of York's owner, Godolphin, was bailed out, however, by the brilliant performance of Mendip, who cruised to an impressive 6 1/4-length victory.

Nosed out of the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort by Bankable on Feb. 19, Imbongi will be the favorite in the Group 2, $250,000 Zabeel Mile at a mile on turf Friday night at Meydan in Dubai. The evening also features the debut of Tahitian Warrior for his new owners, Godolphin.

Vale of York makes his seasonal debut in the 1 3/16-mile Al Bastikiya on Thursday night on a glittering Dubai World Cup preview card at Meydan, which includes a number of the more prominent international names in the Thoroughbred hierarchy.

Collection jumped to the top of his class at Sha Tin on Sunday with a comprehensive 1 3/4-length victory in the $1 million Hong Kong Gold Cup, a 1 1/4-mile Group 1 race in Hong Kong.

Gitano Hernando's Lingfield Park prep for the Dubai World Cup went off without a hitch on Saturday as he cruised to a comfortable 4 1/2-length victory in the $61,000 listed Winter Derby Trial.

Good Ba Ba and Viva Pataca, the winners of 10 Group 1 races between them, clash in the $1 million Hong Kong Gold Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday, but both are vulnerable to rising star Collection in the 1 1/4-mile Hong Kong Group 1 contest.