Vermilion, Admire Aura, and Viva Pataca all booked passage to Dubai with big-race victories in Japan and Hong Kong over the weekend, serving notice that the Far East is in a strong position to defend the two World Cup Night titles it took last year with Vengeance of Rain and Admire Moon.

Japan's leading hope for the Dubai World Cup, Vermilion, will have his final preparation for the world's richest race at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday in the $1.71 million February Stakes, the first Grade 1 contest of the year on the Japanese calendar.

Vodka will attempt to redeem her increasingly woozy reputation at Kyoto on Saturday in the $1.13 million Kyoto Kinen, a 1 3/8-mile Grade 1 contest that has served as a prep for both the Dubai Duty Free and the Dubai Sheema Classic.

First-time blinkers worked wonders for Archipenko at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday as he denied Linngari a third consecutive victory in the Group 2, $250,000 Al Fahidi Fort.

The inaugural Dubai International Racing Carnival Sale, to be conducted by Tattersalls and the Dubai Racing Club on March 4-5 at Nad Al Sheba, has a total of 131 racing-age horses cataloged.

The auction incorporates Dubai's annual Emirates Racing Authority horses-in-training sale, previously held in May, and also will feature Racing Carnival graduates. The graduates' session is open to all horses eligible to race during the festival, which runs from Jan. 17 to March 6 this year.

Linngari goes in search of a third consecutive victory in the Group 2, $250,000 Al Fahidi Fort at Nad Al Shea Thursday night as he continues on the road to the $5 million Dubai Duty Free on March 29.

Sacred Kingdom reaffirmed his position as the world's best sprinter at Sha Tin on Sunday with a convincing 1 1/2-length victory over his arch rival Absolute Champion in the $577,000 Chairman's Sprint Prize, the second leg of Hong Kong's Champion Sprint Series.

Under Gerald Mosse, Sacred Kingdom outkicked Absolute Champion from the quarter pole, covering the six furlongs in 1:08.60 on good ground as the 1-5 favorite.

n what is probably the world's most heated head-to-head Thoroughbred rivalry, Sacred Kingdom and Absolute Champion, the two highest-rated sprinters in the world, will clash for the fourth time in recent months in the $577,000 Chairman's Sprint Prize at Sha Tin on Sunday.

The world's two winningest jockeys, Jorge Ricardo and Russell Baze, will meet competitively for the first time at Ascot on Aug. 9 in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup.

Cocoa Beach turned the tables on Fiesta Lady in an intramural battle otherwise known as the UAE 1000 Guineas at Nad Al Sheba Thursday night.

The Chilean-bred Cocoa Beach corralled Fiesta Lady, her Argentine-bred stablemate, just inside the furlong pole and ran off with the $250,000 listed event by 5 1/4 widening lengths. It was another 11 lengths back to an uncompetitive Love of Dubai in third.