Blatant took a bold first step toward the March 25 Dubai World Cup with an impressive 9 3/4-length cakewalk in Round 1 of the Maktoum Challenge at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday.

The Middle Eastern road to the Dubai World Cup begins at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday as two-time American Grade 2 winner Lundy's Liability heads a field of 10 in Round 1 of the $200,000 Maktoum Challenge.

In the year of Katrina, Hurricane Run has been rated as the best horse in the world on the 2005 World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings, while Ghostzapper took honors for the second consecutive year as the world's highest-rated older horse. George Washington was named juvenile champion in a category restricted to horses trained in Europe.

NEW YORK - The legacy of Maktoum al-Maktoum, the fabulously wealthy owner/breeder and ruler of Dubai who died last week at the age of 62, has had and will continue to have an impact on racing and breeding throughout the world for many years to come.

Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, the prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates, and one of the world's leading owner-breeders, died Wednesday at the age of 62 in Australia, apparently of a heart attack, the official Emirates news agency announced. He had been vacationing at the Palazzo Versace Hotel on Australia's Gold Coast in Queensland, not far from Brisbane.

Demand for tickets to Royal Ascot, from June 20-24, has been so heavy that track officials have been unable to cope with requests. Tickets for the meeting went on sale via telephone and the Internet on Tuesday, but the number of requests was so great most applicants could not get through.

Ascot's public relations director, Nick Smith, said that once a few glitches were ironed out "everyone would be able to buy tickets."

Rakti, the winner of six Group 1 races in England and Italy over the last four years, arrived at Huma Park Stud in Ireland on Tuesday to begin his career at stud.

NEW YORK - The general trend in racing in 2005 continued to flow away from the United States toward Asia and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Europe. The increased firepower available in Japan and Hong Kong was in evidence as those countries took four of the six late-season multimillion-dollar races at Tokyo and Sha Tin, while Hong Kong-based sprinters Silent Witness and Cape of Good Hope won Group 1 or Grade 1 races in Japan, Australia, and England.

A bomb threat forced an evacuation Monday of Down Royal, a racetrack in Northern Ireland.

The track received a phone call warning of a bomb at the track, police said. The evacuation order was given about halfway through the first race, and about 8,000 fans exited the track. The jockeys, who did not hear the evacuation order, rode to the finish of the race.

The card was rescheduled for Tuesday.

Heart's Cry spoiled the party at Nakayama on Christmas Day, outstaying Japan's Triple Crown winner Deep Impact to win the end-of-season championship, the Arima Kinen.

A crowd of 162,000, an increase of more than 40,000 from last year, sent Deep Impact off as the 3-10 favorite. Deep Impact, under Yutaka Take, raced at the rear while Tap Dance City set a slow pace in the 1 1/2-mile, 95-yard race. Deep Impact made up ground on the outside and reached sixth place in the field of 16 turning for home.