Most of the crowd had straggled out of Nad Al Sheba Racecourse and there were no other horses in the holding barn behind the grandstand when Curlin returned there from the test barn following the greatest victory of his career.

     Ears up, eyes bright, he walked with the lilting stride of a horse who surely knew what he had just accomplished.

    In this private moment, trainer Steve Asmusssen and assistant trainer Scott Blasi tended to the big chestnut colt as exercise rider Carlos Rosas held the shank.

    With Asmussen on his left and Blasi on his right, Curlin stood quietly as they bandaged his legs for the short van ride back to his stall in Barn 3 of the quarantine area on the backstretch.

    “This is how it all started,” said Asmussen with a smile at the recollection, kneeling in his suit in the stall’s shavings as he rapidly wound the white wraps.

    “Yes, when I ran all the help off, it was just you and me,” Blasi replied with a chuckle.

    “That’s when I found out how hard you really wanted to work,” Asmussen retorted.

      With Rosas taking Curlin’s pony Pancho first as Asmussen called out to the white Quarter Horse, “Lead the way, old man,” the group made their way toward the waiting van.

      When Curlin climbed aboard, both Blasi and Asmussen stroked his neck. The colt nodded his head happily at their touch, the doors were closed and off they went into the darkness and toward the next chapter in what Asmussen has described as Curlin’s legacy to racing.

Not long after dawn broke on Friday morning in Dubai, Scott Blasi decided to change plans with Curlin.

Instead of taking the Horse of the Year to the main track at Nad Al Sheba - where Curlin will try to capture the $6 million Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) on Saturday - he opted to venture to the more secluded training track for the colt's final pre-race gallop.

While there were many disappointed fans and reporters who didn't get to see Curlin due to the unexpected switch, Blasi said he was pleased with the colt's one-mile gallop, which was more relaxed far from the whir of cameras and the chatter of onlookers at the busier main track.

"My job is to get him to the race as best as we can," Blasi explained later. "We've been really accessible to the media, but when it comes down to it, we've got to do what's best for the horse. He just had a nice, quiet morning and right now, he's standing in his stall safe and happy, and that's my main objective."

Indeed, keeping Curlin happy has been about Blasi's only objective for approximately a month and a half as he has lived in Dubai with the colt, attending to all his needs. Although the Kansas native who is used to overseeing dozens of horses for trainer Steve Asmussen has jokingly likened the experience to the movie Groundhog Day, in which each day is a repetition of the previous one, he has dealt with the stress of handling every detail for the horse rated the world's best while maintaining his sense of humor.

"We've trained him to win," he said simply. "Everything has gone right on schedule."

Yet during a special press conference with the international media on Friday, after which he was sought for interviews with Australian television and English radio stations, Blasi admitted that "there is a tremendous amount of pressure."

Shortly afterward, he was laughing, however, saying that when gets asked questions he doesn't particularly want to answer he responds by "talking in circles."

"I used to get really nervous early on," he said more seriously of his experience in the spotlight. "But now I just try to answer questions truthfully."

It's clearly evident that Blasi regards Curlin as a breed apart from the other horses he has handled and that he views this rather strange interlude in his life as a step toward that rare plateau in racing to which only exceptional horses can carry those associated with them.

When asked about why Dubai World Cup has been selected as the path to that goal, he mentioned the legendary status of previous winners like Cigar and Dubai Millennium.

"We just feel like Curlin is a great horse and he needs every chance to prove it," Blasi declared. "He has a chance to define himself in that manner on Saturday night."

No American knows more about the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) from personal experience than Jim Cornes.

The Dubai Racing Club official and former assistant to four-time Dubai champion trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has witnessed all but one of the previous 12 runnings of the world's richest race and will be there Saturday to see if Curlin can join the elite group of winners.

"We've come so far," mused Cornes, who lives near Saratoga Springs, New York, when he is not working in Dubai during the winter months. "It's grown so big in what really is an amazingly short time.

"The horses come to Dubai to prove who is best, and that was Sheikh Mohammed's original plan for the event," he added.

Although Cornes said he doesn't like to compare horses, noting that today's runners compete under different scenarios than did inaugural Dubai World Cup winner Cigar, for example, he believes Curlin can prove he is something special on Saturday.

"What's neat about Curlin is that you can really see his growth as he has been finding an even higher level of confidence," Cornes said. "It's just a delight to watch him."

Cornes has served as the official timer of Curlin's workouts in Dubai and has tried to be at the rail every time the American Horse of the Year steps on to the Nad Al Sheba racetrack or training track.

As to past World Cups, Cornes is particularly fond of those finishes in which two or three horses battled to the roar of Nad Al Sheba's very diverse crowd, which is made up of people from all the world's major racing jurisdictions as well as nearby Middle Eastern, African and Asian countries.

Pleasantly Perfect's 2004 duel with Medaglia d'Oro stands out in his mind, especially as he vividly remembers how exercise rider Crystal Brown could hardly hold the giant Pleasantly Perfect in his final pre-race workout.

"He tried her so hard that morning-he wanted to run off-that she was so close to losing it all, but she did her job; she held on," he said.

Cornes also clearly recalls Cigar's iconic win in 1996, which he said not only launched Dubai as a center of racing but also sparked international the growth of international racing in general. One of the vignettes from that day was a visit by gallant runner-up Soul of the Matter's owner and breeder, composer Burt Bacharach, to the stable area to watch his horse cool out after the race.

"We just started talking horses and he said, ‘He tried so hard.' He was disappointed, but so proud," Cornes said.

The wins by Street Cry in 2002 and Roses in May in 2005 also stand out in his mind.

"Street Cry was a neat horse to see perform. You could see on that night that he had this powerful stride," Cornes said. "There was a point in the stretch where (jockey Jerry) Bailey set him down and threw a cross and really let him run. The roar from the crowd that went up was just astounding; it was like somebody flipped a switch and it just went up. You love to see that.

"Roses in May is a top one for me, too. He was a very tough horse-a strong horse-to deal with and he had a tough attitude. Once he got here, he wanted to show everybody what he could do. He took up the running and said, ‘Catch me if you can.' It was a really powerful performance."

The only World Cup Cornes has missed was the dominating win by Dubai Millennium in 2000, and he was not there only because of a family emergency.

Despite all the remarkable horses he has already seen win at Nad Al Sheba, Cornes sees something that could be extraordinary in Curlin.

"He does have a presence about him," he said. "And the way he handles everything is so smooth. But those kinds of words don't even do him justice. He is so much more."

In yet another vivid demonstration of the vast global reach of the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) program, the president of Chechnya swooped on Friday to purchase Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-I) contender Mourilyan.

The four-year-old son of Desert Prince will carry the president's red, white and green colors in the $5 million race on Saturday, although it will be too late for the switch to be made in the official program.

A brief announcement of the change in ownership from the Aga Khan, who also bred Mourilyan, issued by the Dubai Racing Club did not reveal new owner Ramzan Kadyrov's political position, but Chief Steward Gerard Bush confirmed that he is indeed the president of Chechnya.

Kadyrov also will be represented on the World Cup program by UAE Derby (UAE-II) contender Rock Ascot, a Uruguayan-bred stakes winner he purchased about a month ago who is trained by Doug Watson.

Although the remarkable tends to be commonplace in Dubai, it did seem somewhat unusual on Friday afternoon when two Rolls Royce vehicles cruised into the backstretch area at Nad Al Sheba escorted by Dubai police. Kadyrov, a staunch ally of Russia, was said to be in one of the vehicles, but it has not been announced whether he plans to attend Saturday's racing program to watch his two runners.

Mourilyan is regarded as a very promising colt after winning four of seven career starts. In three starts during the Dubai International Racing Carnival, the colt won two and finished second by a half-length to Sheema Classic rival Gower Song in the Dubai City of Gold (UAE-III). John Oxx has trained Mourilyan, who has earned $214,969 after beginning his career with two wins in four starts in Ireland.

Kadyrov will be the third major political leader to be represented on the Dubai World Cup program, joining Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum and Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud.

The racing aficionado's life is far from complete without a visit to a camel racetrack.

Sure, there might be no sight more compelling than a Thoroughbred in full flight. Curlin, for example, is the epitome of power and grace in one "complete package," as assistant trainer Scott Blasi likes to say.

Yet racing fans haven't truly lived until they've seen 20 or more camels thundering down a track, their big feet spraying dust behind them and the little robotic jockeys on their backs rhythmically swatting them with whips to go faster.

An army of sport utility vehicles surrounds the racetrack on both sides as managers of the camels drive along beside the racers, operating the robot remote controls and whooping with the action.

Sometimes a camel can run off from the field and win handily and sometimes there are tight finishes. Always there is excitement as the camels, who wear brightly colored blankets, weave down the stretch, some closing strongly and others tiring.

In between the action, there is ongoing entertainment as men dance and sing traditional songs while gesturing with their walking sticks and girls in colorful gowns swing their long black hair in transfixing time with the music.

In some ways, the few Westerners here on Friday afternoon at the new camel racetrack in Al Lisaili Village, about a half-hour drive from the center of Dubai, feel that they are intruding even though admission is open to all and is free. Any niggling doubts are dispelled when men emerge from the crowd and say, "Welcome," and "You may go anywhere to take pictures." Others have their sons bring over bottles of water when the afternoon heat reaches into the mid 90s.

Even when Dubai's crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktoum-who is hosting this meet of several races for very young camels and whose image is everywhere on billboards and banners that flutter in the desert breezes-appears to present trophies, people are allowed to come close to the presentations. The owner of the biggest winner of the afternoon receives a magnificent gold trophy topped by a finely sculpted head of a camel.

With great pomp-more by far than at most Thoroughbred tracks-the first three finishers of each race are paraded before the crowd, their heads and necks dabbed with orange-colored paint to distinguish them. The music plays on and the dancing and singing continues. Watching all this unfold dramatically before the eyes is like being in a time machine to a different era or a culture machine to a world that is so different from, yet so similar to, our own.

Although it has been one of the heartbreaks of Dubai's progress that the camel racetrack at Nad Al Sheba - which stood directly across the street from the horse racetrack - was dismantled to make way for the building of the Meydan complex, visiting Al Lisaili has been a balm to the soul that has fanned a mysterious love affair with the camels.

In past years, it was such a delight to watch the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) horses train at Nad Al Sheba as the sun rose, and then, while standing at the highest level in the grandstand, to turn around see the camels working out across the road. And it was always such a stamp of Middle Eastern reality to see the camels come trudging across the roadway at special crossings (and to know that if one was hit by a car there would be a very serious penalty to pay). Sometimes the early-morning sight of a camel being hauled in the back of a pickup truck would be a startling yet bemusing beginning to a day.

The "ships of the desert," as the camels are known, are just as much a part of the essence of this land and its rich heritage as horses are to the history of America. And the camels are prized here, with some top racing camels being worth several million dollars.

But the experience of the camel racing extravaganza is one that is beyond measure by money.

As racing fans and participants from around the world gathered at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse on Thursday for "Breakfast with the Stars," there was one name that seemed to be on everyone's lips: Curlin.

People from Australia to Europe to South America to Asia all wanted to see the American Horse of the Year with their own eyes, to gauge how good he might really be before he races for the $6 million Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) on Saturday.

"The race is for second place," declared Naohiro Goda, a television commentator and racing publicist from Japan.

As Curlin sauntered past the grandstand in a calm walk beside his pony companion Pancho, he looked every inch the star of this show. Ears pricked, he surveyed the masses with the curiosity of one who knows he is the center of attention.

Once past the crowd, Curlin picked up a jog as he traveled up the stretch chute to visit the starting gate for another schooling session that has been part of his regular drill under the orders of trainer Steve Asmussen.

"He was perfect," assistant trainer Scott Blasi reported. "He stood and backed out. We let him be comfortable."

When exercise rider Carlos Rosas turned Curlin around and pointed him down the stretch toward the finish line, the muscular son of Smart Strike took on a whole different demeanor. His neck arched, his ears back in concentration, and his mouth wide open as he asserted himself with Rosas, Curlin galloped past the crowd like a fireball in the searing sun.

It was that zeal to do what he was born to do-run-that has been sharpened into an emphatic point for Saturday that led Blasi to skip his planned visit to the walking ring with Curlin. Since the colt already is familiar with the small enclosure, having paraded there before his winning race in February and also schooled there on another race night in addition to morning visits, there was no need to place him there next to the Breakfast with the Stars commotion of hundreds of people, long buffet food lines and loudly amplified interviews with trainers.

"It was just too much," Blasi said.

Curlin completed his mile gallop without incident and cooled out well.

"Everything went great," Blasi declared as he awaited the arrivals in Dubai of Asmussen and jockey Robby Albarado.

Only two more mornings to get through before Curlin can be freed to really run across this stage in front the whole world.

Jess Jackson is a man whose achievements and successes could fill many books.

Yet the founder of the Kendall-Jackson Winery and self-made billionaire has found his lifetime dream come true at age 78 in the shape of a chestnut colt with a white blaze named Curlin.

Like so many people who love the sport of horse racing, Jackson said he has mused about having a horse that is the fastest and best in the world ever since he was around six and got his own pony.

That is the primary reason he decided to take the bold step of bringing Curlin to run in the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I).

"This is the test of the true champion-to win both the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) and the Dubai World Cup," Jackson said, describing Curlin as "very competitive, very high spirited, very intelligent.

"He just lives to run," he added.

Jackson also said he brought Curlin to the United Arab Emirates in part to honor Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, a man he respects not only for his vision in developing Dubai and making it an inspiring model for the rest of the Middle East, but also for his commitment to the sport of racing.

"The sheikh is one of the staunchest supporters of the Thoroughbred worldwide," he said. "His ethics and contributions to the industry are irreplaceable. Part of the reason to be here is to support him ... we're here in part to honor him."

As a longtime fan of racing who noted that he has seen many great champions over the years, from Seabiscuit to Round Table to Swaps to Secretariat to Cigar, Jackson also said he has many long-term goals with Curlin.

"My hope for Curlin is that he will help establish a change in the American attitude toward stamina and endurance, and about retiring a horse too soon," he said. "I'm in this for the love of the sport ... the Thoroughbred is a thing of beauty and there is no greater athlete."

And for Jackson, who has been joined in Dubai by his wife Barbara and two of their three children, there is no greater thrill than to be poised on the threshold of racing history with his own very special runner.

"I want him to be a world champion," he said, explaining that the journey down this path has been remarkably rewarding.

"We're having the fun of a lifetime."

More than one flashy chestnut horse has been catching the attention of railbirds at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse this week.

A. P. Arrow, a six-year-old son of A.P. Indy, has cut an impressive figure on the track under exercise rider Eddie King, drawing questions of "Who's that?" along with some oohs and ahhs, even when he has been out at the same time as that better known red streak called Curlin.

On Saturday, A. P. Arrow will be running in the historical shadow of inaugural Dubai World Cup winner Cigar, carrying the same "AP" silks that the two-time Horse of the Year toted for his late owner and breeder Allen Paulson.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, who is seeking his first winner in Dubai, A. P. Arrow was bred by and is campaigned by the Allen Paulson Living Trust.

"We're happy to get the AP silks back over here," Paulson's son Michael said during the World Cup post position draw, adding that A. P. Arrow's assignment of post 13 in the 13^th year of the Dubai World Cup could be a good omen that might result in the horse being "number one like Cigar."

A. P. Arrow is giving indications back at the barn that please the Pletcher team. Assistant trainer Ginny De Pasquale displayed a bruise on her arm left by an aggressive bite by the horse on Wednesday morning.

But De Pasquale wasn't upset. She pointed out that Circular Quay had also bitten her just before he won the New Orleans Handicap (gr. II) on March 8.

Giant ants have invaded Dubai and are laying eggs.

That's what it looks like in front of the Dubai International Financial Centre in the city's business district. Huge bronze-colored ant statues battle with one another, dig down into the grass and emerge out of it and surround a queen insect as she lays white eggs, which are cleverly designed stairs so tourists can climb up into the mid-section of the bug.

Apparently, the ants are part of an art exhibit, but the concierge at the nearby Emirates Towers hotel did not know anything about them.

"I have not seen these ants," he said, a remark that seemed implausible due to their size and positioning. Then, he suggested that they might be connected to the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I), although he had no explanation of why ants would represent the world's richest single day of racing.

Regardless, the ants do seem to fit in Dubai, one of the world's most bustling cities with constant hum of construction and where anything whimsical and unusual is not only possible, it is the norm. Painted statues of camels and falcons have swept through the city, much as the artistically decorated horses did Lexington some years ago. Statues of flamingoes also have been placed near a sanctuary for the leggy pink birds.

Other marvels abound, including the man-made islands shaped like palm trees that will be home to villas, shopping and hotels and which can be seen from space.

Now under construction is the difficult to fathom project called DubaiLand, a grouping of theme parks that will include Restless Planet, devoted to animated dinosaurs; Beauty Land, a fashion-oriented district for women; Tiger Woods Dubai, which will be part of Golf City, a complex of five courses; Falcon City of Wonder, which will include a bigger version of France's iconic Eiffel Tower; a Six Flags theme park; a Formula One auto racing theme park, and Dubai Outlet City for die-hard shoppers.

Like every superstar, Curlin is well aware of the presence of cameras. While he usually enjoys posing, sometimes the paparazzi get on his nerves.

As exercise rider Carlos Rosas steered the colt around the training track at Nad Al Sheba on Wednesday in their first return to exercise following Monday's half-mile workout for the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I), he heard the whir and click of a battery of cameras.

"I didn't look over at the photographers there, but I heard the cameras on the backstretch-and so did Curlin. And he wanted to go. He got a little aggressive," Rosas said.

Sitting still in the saddle, Rosas cajoled Curlin into settling down, but it was clear that this red colt has turned into a tiger ready to pounce.

Slowing to a trot to join assistant trainer Scott Blasi aboard his pony, Pancho, Curlin was still charged up, displaying his intensity by reaching over and nipping Pancho.

Remaining electrified while walking with Pancho off the track, Curlin was greeted by more journalists and their equipment, including a British television commentator who walked alongside the strapping chestnut as a videographer taped her saying, "This is the world's best horse."

As if indicating his patience for the media was at an end, Curlin leapt up into the air slightly, giving an indication of what he could do if really provoked.

Yet the media persisted, with one European photographer running ahead and shooting while standing near a scrubby desert bush.

"He could have been dead," Rosas said of the photographer, noting that the man was lucky Curlin did not strike out with a well aimed kick.

"He wouldn't have done it to be mean," Blasi explained. "But you can't get a horse ready for the race of his life and not expect him to feel good and express it."   

Everything about Curlin's body language is telling his team that he is honed for Saturday's $6 million race.

"He's acting like we want him to do coming into a big race," Blasi said. "His energy level is good, especially after we teased him a little with that half-mile work. He knows he's ready."

Rosas finds a taller kind of mount

Curlin's exercise rider Carlos Rosas enjoyed a rare day off on Tuesday. But, in an Arabian version of a busman's holiday, he wound up atop a camel, way out in the sands of the desert.

"Curlin's better than a camel!" he declared on Wednesday while relating his adventures. "But I do like riding the camels - they are so much fun. I might stay out here in the desert."

Rosas joined Julie Asmussen, the wife of Curlin's trainer Steve Asmussen, and the Asmusssen's three sons, Keith James, Darren Scott and Eric Mark, on a desert safari that also included sand skiing. Assistant trainer Scott Blasi, who is overseeing Curlin in Dubai, gave the rider the time off on the day Curlin walked following his final workout for the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) on Monday.

Steve Asmussen is not due to join his family and Curlin until Friday, the day before he will tighten the girth on the colt as he tries to win the world's richest race.

All the small sign stationed on one of Dubai's whirling traffic roundabouts says is "private access." There are no gates, no fences at the sign-nothing visible to designate that this place is anything special.

Yet anyone who looks out his car window can see that what lies down a long driveway lined with palm trees and lush avenues of grass is something extraordinary.

Indeed, it is one of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's palaces. If a person looks closely while passing through the roundabout, he can see a signatory mark of Sheikh Mohammed atop an arched stone entrance to the compound-five tremendous bronze statues of horses running, seemingly ready to leap across the horizon.

Although Sheikh Mohammed is one of the world's most dynamic leaders and wealthiest individuals, there is no barrier and one can enter the driveway for a closer look. Peacocks stroll in the grass and call shrilly to each other, and sparkling fountains are visible in the courtyard beyond the archway.

A few armed guards can be seen in the distance but they do not question the curious.

Nearby, a herd of endangered Arabian oryx stroll through their own private desert compound adjoining the palace buildings, their long black horns punctuating their forms against the sand, visible even to the rapidly passing motorist.

This is the epicenter of Dubai's magic kingdom.

American Horse of the Year Curlin was standing in the wash rack in his barn in the quarantine area of Nad Al Sheba Racecourse when the unmistakable sound of an explosion split the air.

"We were lucky he was in the wash rack because we could have had a problem if I was walking him," assistant trainer Scott Blasi said of the startling noise. Curlin had just finished a light gallop over the training track when the incident occurred shortly before 7:30 a.m.

Other American horses were training on the main Nad Al Sheba track when a mushroom cloud rose behind the grandstand following the blast, and trainers and riders were aghast.

Billowing black smoke smudged the glittering Dubai skyline as resulting fires burned for hours. News reports indicated that "a massive explosion" had occurred at a fireworks plant, causing a raging fire that destroyed four warehouses.

Two people were reported dead from the explosion.

As the Muslim call to morning prayer drifted over the Nad Al Sheba barn area from a nearby mosque and the sky started to brighten,  Curlin began Tuesday feeling "pretty happy with himself."

A day after his last workout for the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I), he was ready to do more, said Scott Blasi, who has spent the last month tending only to Curlin, satisfying the colt's every need and keeping him focused on the task that lies ahead.

Following their established routine of walking around the barn the day after a workout, Curlin was pulling and tugging on Blasi, who used the word "energetic" to describe his charge.

"He came out of his work great," he said, shaking his head slightly with the awe inspired by this horse who seems to handle every challenge with ease.

But all that energy in the big red body was kept bottled, and Curlin went back into his spacious stall - about 1 ½ times the size of those at American racetracks - to receive admirers rather than flex his muscles.

Curlin's principal owner, Jess Jackson, his wife, Barbara, and two of their children, Katie and Chris, who arrived in Dubai Monday night, collected special passes that only those connected to the World Cup runners can acquire to visit the restricted quarantine barn area. Accompanied by Jackson's bloodstock agent, John Moynihan, they ventured into the barn to see the chestnut horse they hope will create a racing legend, beginning Saturday night in the desert.

Blasi said he keeps a cache of peppermints on hand for such occasions, and noted that the Jacksons also brought apples for Curlin's pony companion, Pancho.

"They hadn't seen him in a while, and I think they enjoyed themselves," Blasi said. "They flew to New Orleans twice this winter just to see him (when he was training at the Fair Grounds). I think they're enjoying this whole experience - this kind of horse doesn't come around too often."

An informal poll of the three Dubai Racing Club officials who have spent the most time observing the 97 horses from 14 countries who are slated to compete on Saturday's Dubai World Cup program has resulted in Curlin being chosen as the most impressive physical specimen at Nad Al Sheba.

Following are the officials and their comments:

Jim Cornes, stables coordinator, who hails from upstate New York and began his career in racing working for Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens - "Curlin, by far," he declared. "He's just a head turner."

Feargal Cooper, a native of County Wexford, Ireland, and a former stable manager for top Irish trainer Jim Bolger before moving to Dubai, where he now is manager of the International Stable at Nad Al Sheba - "Curlin. He is a very powerful looking horse."

Only Toni Hodge, who came to Dubai from her homeland in England to work as an exercise rider and who now is the manager of the Dubai World Cup quarantine complex, dissented. "Well Armed. He would be my favorite," she said of the big bay American challenger, requesting that her choice not be disclosed while Scott Blasi, the assistant trainer for Curlin, was in the building that houses her office.

Even though he will turn 71 in the not too distant future, Julio Canani could change careers from horse training and easily become an ambassador for Dubai.

The California-based Canani is celebrating his ninth anniversary of participating with a runner on the Dubai World Cup program, bringing grade II winner Spring House this year for the $5 million Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-I).

"Everything is good here," Canani exclaimed just hours after flying into Dubai while watching Spring House gallop on Monday morning at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse. "If I got hired by somebody, I would work eight months of every year here."

Canani said he decided back in 2000, after saddling Ladies Din for the Dubai Duty Free (then a group III race but now a group I event worth $5 million), that he would return every year and thus has made it a "project" to find a horse to take him on the trip-which is paid for by the Dubai Racing Club, which flies and lodges all participants in luxurious style.

Since he is so interested in Dubai, Canani has followed the phenomenal growth and, recently, the incredible investment Dubai entities controlled by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum are making in the United States and around the globe.

"In another five years, they're going to own every business in he world," Canani said. "It's unbelievable."