Deep Impact landed his second consecutive title as Japanese Horse of the Year on Monday with his near-unanimous selection by the Japan Racing Association. A son of Sunday Silence, he was also named Japan's best older horse of 2006, adding to his 2005 title as best 3-year-old.

Owner/trainer Joe Janiak has been fined $25,600 by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for the drug positive that forced the scratching of Takeover Target from the Hong Kong Sprint on Dec. 10.

Takeover Target tested positive for a prohibited substance, a steroid called 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone hexanoate, on both his arrival in Hong Kong and on the morning of the race. Honk Kong stewards weighed Janiak's record of 34 years without a drug positive in assessing a relatively lenient fine that could have been accompanied by a long suspension.

Opening night of Nad Al Sheba's Dubai International Racing Carnival had a strong "carnaval" flavor, as the Brazilian-bred and -trained pair of Imperialista and Impossible Ski sambaed to a one-two finish in Round 1 of the $200,000 Maktoum Challenge.

Imperialista, a Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old trained by Cosme Morgado, defeated his countrymate by 2 1/4 lengths in just the sixth start of his career. Second in his most recent start on Oct. 22 in the Group 2 Grande Premio Salgado Filho in Rio de Janeiro, he was ridden by Marcelo Cardoso to complete the dirt mile in 1:35.96.

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.