Mixed bag of horse racing events mark pre-holiday excitement

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Santa brings good little racing fans another Kentucky Derby prep race and some solid turf action this weekend.

On the global scene, some of Japan's biggest stars, including Japan Cup winner Do Deuce, do battle in Sunday's Grade I Arima Kinen, and the Dubai World Cup Carnival starts to heat up with two graded stakes on Friday night's program.

Let's see if we can get some winners checked off that shopping list!

The Road to the Roses

The "Road to the Kentucky Derby" series cruises through the Big Easy this weekend as the $100,000 Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds offers points on the 10-5-3-2-1 scale.

The 1 1/16-mile Gun Runner attracted just five entries, with Magnitude pegged as the 2-1 favorite.

The Not This Time colt, trained by Steve Asmussen, comes off an allowance win at Churchill Downs. Two starts back, he finished seventh in the Grade III Iroquois Stakes under the twin spires.

Turf

The turf action is at Gulfstream Park and Fair Grounds.

The $215,000 Grade II Fort Lauderdale at Gulfstream Park and the $100,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial at Fair Grounds are open to 3-year-olds and up. The Fort Lauderdale is 1 1/8 miles and the Diliberto is 1 1/16 miles.

Fillies and mares contest the $165,000 Grade III Suwannee River at 1 mile at Gulfstream and the $100,000 Blushing K.D. at 1 1/16 miles on the New Orleans lawn.

The $140,000 Janus Stakes at Gulfstream Park is 5 furlongs and the $100,000 Richard L. Scherer Memorial at Fair Grounds is 5 1/2 furlongs.

Around the world, around the clock

Japan

Sunday's Grade 1 Arima Kinen is the final race in Do Deuce's illustrious career, and last month's Japan Cup winner will be feted at a post-race retirement ceremony, win or lose. The fans seem to think that will be "win" rather than "lose" as they voted him the horse they most wanted to see in the race.

His job won't be easy. The field also includes reigning Japanese Derby winner Danon Decile, Takarazuka Kinen winner Blow the Horn; Osaka Hai winner Bellagio Opera; Japanese St. Leger winner Blow the Horn; two-time Grade 1 winner Stunning; and Rose and 2023 Tenno Sho (Spring) winner Justin Palace.

Stars on Earth, second to Do Deuce in last year's Arima Kinen, also is back.

The race is 2,500 meters or just over 1 1/2 miles and features two trips down the stretch -- a run that includes a sharp climb approaching the finish line.

Dubai

Friday's program has the first two group stakes of the 2024-25 World Cup Carnival season -- the Group 2 Al Rashidiya at 1,800 meters on the turf and the Group 2 Al Maktoum Mile on the Meydan Racecourse dirt.

The star of the entire proceeding is Measured Time, a Frankel colt who won last year's Al Rashidiya as a 3-year-old and went on to win the Group 1 Jebel Hatta a month later.

He finished fourth in the Group 1 Dubai Turf in March before joining trainer Charlie Appleby's Godolphin forces in New York. There, he won the Group 1 Manhattan Stakes and finished second in the Grade I Sword Dancer on Aug. 24, his final start of the year.

William Buick is booked to ride, and eight rivals look up against it.

The Al Maktoum Mile is the first Dubai start for Artorius, a 5-year-old son of Arrogate who found limited success in New York for trainer Chad Brown. He now is handled by Bhupat Seemar and faces five rivals Friday.