American-trained horses owned by the Maktoum family dominated the 2006 World Thoroughbred Racehorse Ratings as Invasor was rated the best older horse in the world and overall highweight at 129 with Bernardini and Discreet Cat sharing the 3-year-old championship at 128.

Formerly known as the International Classification, the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Ratings are compiled by a panel of international handicappers from Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, the United States, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia. They also serve as Europe's official championship rankings.

NEW YORK - Congratulations over the record $135 million wagered nationwide on the 2006 Breeders' Cup had hardly died down when Racing Victoria announced that its Victoria Derby Day card at Flemington Racecourse in Australia, held like the Breeders' Cup on Nov. 4, had generated $34 million in total nationwide handle.

British breeding officials on Tuesday called for an end to the Northern Hemisphere rule whereby Thoroughbreds born prematurely a few days before Jan. 1 must be considered yearlings come New Year's Day.

NEW YORK - The United Arab Emirates was the site of the three richest races in the world in 2006 as purse increases of $3 million to the Dubai Duty Free and the Dubai Sheema Classic brought both stakes to within $1 million of the world-leading $6 million Dubai World Cup. All three races are run at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai on Dubai World Cup Night, which remains the world's richest race program with total Thoroughbred prize money of $21 million.

Deep Impact bid his legions of fans a fond farewell at Nakayama Racecourse on Sunday with an emphatic three-length victory in the $2.9 million Arima Kinen. The 4-year-old son of Sunday Silence, who started as an odds-on favorite in all 14 of his starts, now retires with a well-earned reputation as the greatest Thoroughbred in the history of Japanese racing.

Deep Impact bid his legions of fans a fond farewell at Nakayama Racecourse on Sunday with an emphatic 3-length victory in the $2.9 million Arima Kinen. The 4-year-old son of Sunday Silence, who started as an odds-on favorite in all 14 of his career starts, now retires with a well-earned reputation as the greatest Thoroughbred in the history of Japanese racing.

Deep Impact should conclude his brilliant career on a high note at Nakayama on Sunday when he attempts to win the one Japanese race that eluded him last year, the $2.9 million Arima Kinen, or Japanese Grand Prix.

The traditional year-end 1 9/16-mile Grade 1 event has greater cachet in many Japanese racing circles than the Japan Cup, a race Deep Impact won on Nov. 26 after having been disqualified from third place in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for a banned-drug positive.

Fusaichi Richard gave his owner, Fusao Sekiguchi, victory in the first running of the $1.1 million Hanshin Cup at Hanshin Racecourse near Osaka, Japan, on Sunday, holding off Precise Machine by a neck in the seven-furlong Grade 2 event.

Meiner Scherzi was a head further back in third, with Asakusa Den'en and Symboli Gran filling the fourth and fifth places. The British invader Court Masterpiece raced in midpack throughout, coming home ninth of 17, beaten just 2 3/4 lengths as the 5-2 choice.

The trial of jockey Kieren Fallon on race-fixing charges has been has been set to begin Sept. 24, 2007, at the historic London courthouse at the Old Bailey. Fallon has been charged along with five others, all of whom deny the charges of conspiracy to defraud Betfair bettors in races that were run between December 2002 and September 2004.

Fallon, recently given a six-month suspension by French racing authorities in an unrelated incident, will not be able to ride in Britain unless he is found not guilty of the charges.

Court Masterpiece is the lone foreign challenger in the $1.1 million Hanshin Cup at Hanshin Racecourse near Osaka, Japan, on Sunday when he will meet 17 locally trained rivals.