Linngari made easy work of the $250,000 Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort at Nad Al Sheba Thursday night, winning the Dubai Duty Free prep for the second successive year.

Linngari defends his Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort title at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday night in the third of four local preps for the $5 million Dubai Duty Free on March 31.

The $250,000 turf mile has also attracted last year's runner-up, Lord Admiral, but while Linngari has since won the six-furlong Group 2 Goldene Peitsche at Baden-Baden and finished second in the seven-furlong Group 1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp, there are two other European invaders with chances equal to his.

The world's leading Thoroughbred bridesmaid, Seeking the Dia, will attempt to earn his first Grade 1 title at Tokyo on Sunday when he starts the lukewarm favorite for the $1.5 million February Stakes, the one-mile Japanese prep for the Dubai World Cup.

Premium Tap was successful at King Abdulazid Racecourse in Janadriyah near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday evening as he scored a 2 3/4-length victory in the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup, aka the King's Cup. Victory assured Premium Tap, a John Kimmel-trained son of Pleasant Tap, a spot in the Dubai World Cup, in which he is expected to clash with Invasor and Discreet Cat.

Folk continued to hint at the potential she showed winning an Aqueduct maiden race last October by 10 1/4 lengths when she led throughout to take the listed $250,000 UAE Guineas at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday night.

Premium Tap will make his first start for his new owners, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and sons, in the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup, aka the King's Cup, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday. Still trained by John Kimmel, the man who trained him to a pair of Grade 1 victories last fall, the 5-year-old Premium Tap will be making his first start going 1 1/2 miles as he prepares for a tilt at the 1 1/4-mile Dubai World Cup on March 31.

If Discreet Cat is to have a prep for the $6 million Dubai World Cup, it may come in Round 3 of the Maktoum Challenge at Nad Al Sheba on March 1, Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford told the Racing Post on Tuesday. Round 3 of the Maktoum Challenge, a Grade 2 course-and-distance prep for the world's richest race, was used as a successful stepping-stone to the World Cup by Godolphin last year with Electrocutionist.

In a country like Ireland, one would be forgiven for assuming that the European champion 2-year-old must be trained by Aidan O'Brien for a combination of Coolmore owners consisting of John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and/or Derrick Smith.

Asiatic Boy upheld the fine record of Argentine-breds in the Group 3 UAE 2000 Guineas at Nad Al Sheba on Friday night as he sped to a 4 1/2-length victory over Traffic Guard in the $250,000 mile.

Kandidate threw his hat into the Dubai World Cup ring with a clear-cut victory in Round 2 of the $200,000 Maktoum Challenge at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday night.

Ridden by the 2006 British champion jockey, Ryan Moore, Kandidate bounced out of the gate from a disadvantageous 12 post and never looked back, trouncing runner-up Mullins Bay by 5 3/4 lengths and covering the 1 1/8 miles of the Group 3 contest in 1:49.40.