Even with war threatening to break out in Iraq, American trainers and owners seem to be taking an unflinching attitude toward running their horses at Nad Al Sheba on Dubai World Cup night March 29.

Grandera heads the Godolphin lineup in Round 3 of the Group 2 Maktoum Challenge on Nad Al Sheba's Super Saturday, when the Emirates Racing Association runs preps for all six of the big races to be run on Dubai World Cup night, March 29.

Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, on Wednesday, the Asian Racing Conference took steps to establish common ground with racing jurisdictions worldwide, especially concerning the grading of races and the rating of horses.

DUBLIN - The Cheltenham Festival begins on Tuesday, and the bookies are already chomping at the bit. It's the Breeders' Cup of jump racing, offering three straight days of top-quality hurdles and steeplechases at a lovely old course out in the English countryside, where the stretch run climbs uphill and sometimes leaves the horses as winded as boxers after 10 good rounds of punching.

Pretence, winner of a third straight start on dirt at Lingfield Park over the weekend, may have the Belmont Stakes as his long-term goal.

A Danehill colt, Pretence landed the Dubai Trial Conditions Stakes, a one-mile allowance race, by a neck as the even-money favorite with a sharp late run on Saturday, stopping the clock in 1:38.58. His performance prompted his trainer, Jeremy Noseda, to reveal his long-range plans for Pretence, who is nominated to the Triple Crown.

ST. MICHAEL, Barbados - From the moment the first marching band and parade of brightly colored dancers emerged on the racetrack last Saturday, a visitor to the Garrison Savannah for the $110,000 Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup knew that this was not going to be a typical day of horse racing.

The Gold Cup, the most prestigious race in the Caribbean, is just as much a celebration of the Bajan culture as it is a major race.

ST. MICHAEL, Barbados - California invader Thady Quill unleashed a powerful kick in early stretch to beat Zoning in the $110,000 Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup at the Garrison Savannah in Barbados on Saturday.

Thady Quill, a 6-year-old son of Nureyev owned by Barbados resident Mrs. Gay Smith, defeated Zoning by three lengths in a course-record-equaling time of 1:48.60 for 1 1/8 miles on firm turf. Zoning is trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Eugene Melnyk.

NEW YORK - The appearance of six horses trained by Aidan O'Brien on the list of nominees to Turfway Park's Lane's End Stakes prompted speculation that we might see one of his runners in the Kentucky Derby.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Eugene Melnyk has hundreds of Thoroughbreds and has won many races worth more money than the $110,000 Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup. But the Gold Cup, held virtually in his backyard at the Garrison Savannah Racetrack near Bridgetown, Barbados, is a race he dearly wants to win.

"It would be one of the most thrilling things for me in horse racing to win it," said Melnyk.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Thady Quill, a stakes winner for the Bobby Frankel barn, headlines a deep and talented field in the Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup at the Garrison Savannah Racetrack near here on Saturday.

While Frankel has turned over the training of Thady Quill to champion Barbadian trainer Bill Marshall, there will be prominent North American horses and horsemen here on race day.

Trainers Todd Pletcher and Mark Casse will start horses for owners Eugene and Laura Melnyk, and nine Canadian-based Barbadian jockeys will have mounts for the $110,000 race.