There will be a lot more horses coming in from all over the globe between now and then but this is a fist chance for some to see Meydan and others to try and make it into the finals.

Starting off the card is the Dubai City of Gold over 2400m, the prep for the Sheema, and G2.  Godolphin's Kemari is on 3/1 for Appleby-Doyle and then an interesting runner from Hong Kong, Senor Toba, on 7/2.  He ran behind compatriot Russian Emperor in Doha but has a chance to show his stuff here.  Godolphin has two "Global"s – Global Storm on 4/1 for Appleby-Buick and Global Heat 6/1 bin Suroor-Tudhope.  In between them Away He Goes on 6/1 we thought a bit disappointing last time but haven't ruled him out – yet!

The Burj Nahaar is G3 on dirt over 1600m and it is mostly composed of the locals who want to get into the Mile.  There are 3 on 5/1 so very open – they are Fanaar, Royal Mews and Secret Ambition.  Sharpen up the pin!

The Nad Al Sheba turf sprint G3 is over 1200 and has a couple of interesting raiders – Al Dasim 2/1 from George Boughey's yard and Coachella from Gordon Elliott's in Ireland.  Looks like Elliott took over the horse last November and it has had 3 starts in January at Meydan winning the latest.  City Walk represents bin Suroor and these 2 are on 5/1.

The Third round of the Maktoum Challenge is G1 and has 14 runners.  The locals have potentially a strong hand with Bendoog trained by Seemar and James Doyle taking the ride.  They are on 2/1.  Salute The Soldier won this in 2021 and returns with Adrie de Vries riding for Fawzi Nass and they are on 3/1.  There are two interesting Latinos here from Antonio Cintras yard – Atletico El Culano 8/1 and Ajust Fiscal who is a course & distance winner on 12/1.

The other G1 is the Jebel Hatta G1 over 1800m on the turf.  As usual there is a Godolphin dominance here with Master Of The Seas and the recently gelded Real World on 5/2 and one we like a lot Valiant Prince on 7/2.  The Hong Kong based Russian Emperor is here after winning the Amir's Trophy in Doha and comes into this on a generous quote of 8/1.

Festivities conclude with the Mahab Al Shimaal G3 over 1200m dirt again mainly for the locals one of which we are very interested in and that is Mouhaab trained by Michael Costa with Jean van Overmeire on board.  They are on 7/2, with Tuz 11/4 and Isolate 3/1.