Best Mate cruised to a 10-length victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup Thursday.

The Henrietta Knight-trained gelding became the first horse to win consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups since the legendary L'Escargot in 1970-71.

Jim Culloty moved Best Mate, the 13-8 favorite, within striking position approaching the fourth-to-last fence as first Behrajan and then Best Mate's stablemate Chives set the pace. Best Mate sailed past Chives entering the home stretch, with just two fences to clear in the 3 5/16-mile steeplechase.

The American rider Gus Brown was unsuccessful in his first ride at Cheltenham's National Hunt Festival Tuesday when his mount Saitensohn came home 12th of 19 in the Royal and SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle.

Brown had the 33-1 Saitensohn in contention early in the 2 5/8-mile race before Saitensohn weakened to finish 27 1/2 lengths behind the victorious 6-1 Irish invader, Hardy Eustace. Saitensohn was later placed 11th via a disqualification.

The day's feature race, the two-mile Queen Mother Champion Chase, went to another Irish raider, the 7-4 favorite Moscow Flyer.

Ashraaf, Gonfilia, and Mezzo Soprano, three of Godolphin's eight nominees to the Kentucky Oaks, will face off in the $250,000 UAE 1000 Guineas at Nad Al Sheba Thursday night.

Ashraaf may have a conditioning edge over her six rivals in the one-mile dirt stakes. A maiden winner at Arlington in September, Ashraaf was a distant second behind the UAE Oaks-bound Danuta in the Moonshell Mile on Feb. 20. Ashraaf finished a half-length in front of the Chilean-bred Escania, who also goes in the Guineas.

Best Mate will be a solid 3-2 choice when he defends his title in Thursday's $560,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup in England, the most sought after prize in the steeplechasing world.

An 8-year-old Irish-bred gelding by Un Desperado, Best Mate has had a pair of ideal preps since winning last year's 3 5/16-mile race. In his last race, on Dec. 26, he took the King George VI Chase at Kempton by 1 1/2 lengths from Marlborough, who had been fourth in last year's Gold Cup and who runs again on Thursday.

Inamorato thrust his face into the Kentucky Derby picture with a six-length score over Victory Moon in the 1 1/8-mile Al Bastikiya at Nad Al Sheba on Saturday night.

Rhinestone Cowboy puts his unbeaten hurdling record on the line in the Smurfit Champion Hurdle as the world's biggest jump racing meeting, the three-day National Hunt Festival, gets under way at Cheltenham on Tuesday.

Grandera booked his ticket to the $6 million Dubai World Cup March 29 with a victory in the Group 2 Maktoum Challenge at Nad Al Sheba in Dubai Saturday.

Ridden by Frankie Dettori, Grandera hit the front with a quarter-mile remaining in the 1 1/4-mile dirt race and defeated Grundlefoot by a half-length. Owned by Godolphin, Grandera ran the distance in 2:02.83

Luvah Girl, Team Valor's British Group 2 winner who scored in her American debut at Santa Anita last Friday, could be headed back to England for the 1000 Guineas on May 4.

"She will run at Keeneland in the Transylvania Stakes against colts on April 4," Barry Irwin, director of Team Valor, said. "If she runs well in that, we'll send her to Newmarket for the Guineas."

Newmarket was the scene of Luvah Girl's victory in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes going seven furlongs on Oct. 19.

The Dubai World Cup has been withdrawn from the 2003 World Series Racing Championship, the executive director of the series, Nick Clarke, announced on Thursday.

The World Cup, the world's richest race, had been scheduled to start this year's series on March 29, but the Emirates Racing Association notified Clarke that the World Cup was pulling out. No reason was given for the withdrawal.

Aquarelliste will have her French swan song at Saint-Cloud on Saturday. As she prepares for a possible start in the Dubai World Cup, she will run in the 1 1/4-mile, Group 3 Prix Exbury, the first European group race of the year.