The best racehorse in the world during 2024 and the best racehorse in Hong Kong the last two seasons – not a bad get for a late-January card at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. Laurel River earlier this week was named co-winner of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, hitting a mark of 128, which put him on par with Ireland-based turf star City of Troy for highest official international rating last year. That lofty rating came from his smashing, unexpected win last March 30 in the Dubai World Cup, where he stormed home more than eight lengths better than runner-up Ushba Tesoro, winner of the 2023 World Cup, and Senor Buscador, who had just annexed the Saudi Cup the month before. Bhupat Seemar, who trains Laurel River for his breeder, Juddmonte, said the day after the World Cup that he didn’t expect his horse to travel overseas and race. Laurel River, after all, had been under trainer Bob Baffert’s care in California before being moved to Dubai, and he was a different horse in the Middle East than he’d been in America. Seemar said Laurel River would be given a long break and aim for a World Cup repeat in 2025, a bid that begins Friday in the Group 3, $191,000 Firebreak Stakes. The Firebreak is one of seven Thoroughbred group stakes on a program headlined by the Group 1, $1 million Maktoum Challenge, but the card’s other star attraction isn’t in that race, either. :: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!  Hong Kong-based Romantic Warrior, tied for eighth in the World Thoroughbred Rankings with a 2024 mark of 125, has already shipped to win Group 1 races in Australia and Japan, and now has gone to Dubai with connections eyeing the $5 million Dubai Turf on the World Cup undercard. Romantic Warrior faces a serious rival in the Group 1 Jebel Hatta in Godolphin’s Measured Time, fourth in the 2024 Dubai Turf, second in the Grade 1 Manhattan last June, and most recently a seven-length winner Dec. 20 of the Al Rashidiya at Meydan, his first start since the Manhattan. Laurel River’s improbable breakout began poorly on this card a year ago, when he finished seventh in the Al Shindagha Sprint, his first start since he’d notched his first graded stakes score in the Pat O’Brien at Del Mar in August 2022. In early March of 2024, when stretched to 1,600 meters in the Burj Nahaar Stakes, Laurel River dominated, but even that left virtually nobody prepared for his World Cup tour de force. As sudden as Laurel River’s rise came last winter and as dull as his comeback race was a year ago, anyone diving into the international pools would do well to seek an alternative to the favorite. Among the nine entered to oppose him is Cagliostro, purchased last year by Wathnan Racing and based until earlier this month at Keeneland with trainer Cherie DeVaux. This 1 1/8-mile trip suits Cagliostro, though the 5-year-old, now with Qatari trainer Hamad Al Jehani, ran below form when most recently finishing 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. The “now” horse is 4-year-old Meshtri, a sharp front-running winner Dec. 20 of the Al Maktoum Mile. Seemar saddled a second blowout World Cup card winner, Tuz, who, out of nowhere, romped in the Golden Shaheen last March. Tuz, an 8-year-old, returned to action earlier this month with an easy win in the Group 3 Dubawi Stakes and should be heavily favored Friday in the Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint. While Laurel River seized the World’s Best Racehorse title on the strength of one race, Romantic Warrior is far more accomplished and reliable, and while he races right-handed in Hong Kong, Romantic Warrior has loads of experience over flat, oval courses like Meydan, as well as the speed to succeed at Friday’s 1,800-meter trip. Romantic Warrior’s seven-race winning streak (six Group 1s) includes two renewals of the 2,000-meter Hong Kong Cup, a Group 1 Cox Plate over 2,000 meters, and last June’s Group 1 Yasuda Kinen, a major Japanese mile. Standard race versus standard race, Measured Time cannot handle Romantic Warrior. Facteur Cheval reportedly trained so well over the Meydan dirt before winning the Dubai Turf last year that connections considered the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Instead, Facteur Cheval, owned by Team Valor International and Gary Barber and trained by Jerome Reynier, makes his dirt debut in the 1,900-meter Maktoum Challenge. Facteur Cheval faces 11 Friday foes, among them Kabirkhan and Generous Tipper. Kabirkhan was one of the Meydan stars last winter, coming from Russia to win the 2024 renewal of this race by nearly four lengths. Kabirkhan flopped in the World Cup, finishing a distant eighth, and hasn’t raced since. Generous Tipper, another Wathnan purchase trained by Hamad Al Jehani, was last seen racing Nov. 3 at Aqueduct, where he won the Discovery while trained by Kenny McPeek. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.