Fellow 2010 Dubai World Cup participants Richard’s Kid, the repeat winner of the Pacific Classic (G1), and Crowded House will both appear in Saturday’s Goodwood Stakes (G1) at Hollywood Park, a race won a year ago by Gitano Hernando.

Click HERE for more details.

Red Desire defeated eventual Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Gloria De Campeao with a sizzling run from last in her Maktoum Challenge win before not finding the same spark in the Dubai World Cup itself.  Back in Japan, she bled following a return to the races against her archnemesis, Buena Vista.  Earlier in the week, Japan’s top dirt horse Espoir City was announced to be pointing for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).  Japan has never tasted success at the Breeders’ Cup.  Click HERE for more.

Asiatic Boy romped him in the 2000 Guineas prep before taking the main trial, the Al Bastakiya, and then dominating the UAE Derby (G2).  His last win was in the third round of last year’s Maktoum Challenge (G2) where he defeated Happy Boy and stable companion Art of War.  Six of his seven lifetime wins came over the Nad Al Sheba strip. 

After some decent efforts in the US, including a second in the 2009 Stephen Foster (G1) at Churchill Downs, the Argentine-bred was sent to his native land where he will stand the 2010 season privately.

Click HERE for more from Thoroughbred Times.

Winner of the 2009 Godolphin Mile (G2), Two Step Salsa will be back at that same distance in Saturday’s Salvatore Mile (G3) at Monmouth Park.  The race is the first American “Win & You’re In” qualifier for the 2009 Breeders’ Cup, with the winner of the Salvatore Mile earning a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.  Eight are entered for the Salvatore Mile, including likely favorite Smooth Air, second in the Met Mile (G1) at Belmont in late May.  Two Step Salsa was beaten more than sixth lengths in his first start since the Godolphin Mile victory when fourth in the Tom Fool Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park.

Click HERE to review the full press release from the New York Racing Association.

Macho Again won the Stephen Foster with a late wide move around the far turn.  Asiatic Boy just edged favored Einstein for second and remains in the training care of Kiaran McLaughlin, whose main stable is based at Belmont Park, home of the Suburban.  The American older horse division lacks a definitive leader and Asiatic Boy’s presence adds intrigue to the muddled picture.  Nominations for the race are due in the next week.

Click HERE to read more about the Stephen Foster and watch the race video.

Asiatic Boy was best of a four-way photo for the runner-up position and showed a much better turn of foot from off the pace for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.  Assuming he has emerged from the race in good form, and with the general shallow nature of the older male division, Asiatic Boy’s presence could be felt later in the year.

Asiatic Boy, racing for Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, will carry 122 pounds with Alan Garcia aboard, the lightest impost since his maiden campaign in Argentina.  The son of Not For Sale, formerly trained by Mike De Kock, will also be medicated with Lasix for this nine furlong event which drew a field of seven others. 

Midnight Cry Stable’s Einstein is the top-weighted favorite and is seeking to become only the second horse to win Grade 1 races on dirt, turf, and a synthetic surface.  The Helen Pitts-Blasi trainee won the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1) at Churchill on the Kentucky Derby undercard. 

It is difficult to hypothesize on Asiatic Boy’s likely performance here as his 2009 campaign is the least-credentialed in his lifetime.  The Stephen Foster marks only the 16th appearance in his lifetime but his final Dubai World Cup prep, the third round of the Maktoum Challenge (G2), appears, in hindsight, to have been a relatively weak renewal.  Asiatic Boy’s appearance in America seems an attempt to revive a career that has clearly been best served on dirt.  While he is likely to improve second off the layoff, Asiatic Boy is 6-years-old and intact, and his connections will surely keep that in mind if his performances are not up to par.

Arson Squad, 11th in the 2009 Dubai World Cup, returns in the Stephen Foster also, carrying 118 pounds.

This year’s Dubai World Cup was a different story as the former Mike De Kock trainee came home a distant twelfth following a slow start and a somewhat impeded trip.  Now with Kiaran McLaughin, Asiatic Boy has had two solid workouts at his new home track, Belmont Park.  Asiatic Boy has 15 lifetime starts with seven wins and earning in excess of $3,000,000.

Click HERE for the original article from the Thoroughbred Times.

Should Asiatic Boy make the Stephen Foster, he is likely to tussle with 7-year-old Einstein, the recent winner of the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs, part of the Kentucky Derby undercard.  Trained by Curlin’s original trainer, Helen Pitts-Blasi, Einstein is quite possibly the top all-surface older horse running in America.  A win in the Stephen Foster would make Einstein only the second horse in history to have landed Grade 1 wins on dirt, turf, and synthetic surfaces.

Samantha Siegel of Jay Em Ess Stables reported this week that Arson Squad, eleventh in the 2009 Dubai World Cup, is expected to make his return in the Stephen Foster.