There was no shortage of excitement for local racing fans this past weekend, with events at Turffontein and Nad Al Sheba spawning several talking points.

Starting with the happenings abroad, the big disappointment was undoubtedly the failure of National Colour in the Golden Shaheen. With hindsight, her disastrous performance was hardly a surprise. Despite her impressive sand debut which had seen her win her prep race with a minimum of fuss, there were plenty of warning signs going into Saturday`s showpiece.

For starters, 1200m was always going to be problematic on a dirt surface. Sure, she`s won two big prizes in SA over that trip, but that was on grass and her sheer class, relative to the rest of her opposition, had carried her through. To take on dirt specialists over a distance outside her comfort zone was always going to be a tall order.

Of course, the fact that she missed the break didn`t help her cause, but even when winning on her previous start, she had not looked fully comfortable on the dirt and one suspects that even with the cleanest of starts, she would have battled to win anyway on Saturday. Throw in the fact that it was her second run after a layoff and the portents started to look even worse.

People often underestimate how difficult it is for a horse to adapt to different surfaces and in National Colour`s case, she is ideally suited to the turf: her blinding speed allows her to bolt away from her opponents and by the time they realise what`s hit them, the race is over. The holding nature of a dirt track is always going to work against her and hopefully she will not have to endure such an experience again.It was encouraging to hear that she should get her international campaign back on track with a UK appearance and one hopes that Saturday`s race has not dented her confidence, as it is the first time ever that she has been so comprehensively beaten and she is not used to seeing other horses in front of her. If she comes out of the race mentally in order, then she can still resurrect her career.In  retrospect, Dubai was a mistake, but one cannot criticise her connections: the best horses should be given the biggest challenges and if anything, they should be commended for having the courage to take her over. There are, however, more sensible options on turf in the UK, France and Hong Kong and I firmly believe that she will not disgrace herself against anyone, anywhere in the world, over 1000m on the green surface.

On a more positive note for South Africa, Mike de Kock continued his domination of the UAE Derby with another visually stunning effort from Asiatic Boy. The real talking point, however, came not from the victory, which was very much expected, but rather from jockey Marwing`s post-race comment that this is the best horse he`s ever ridden. Needless to say, such a comment, coming from the man who rode Horse Chestnut, is bound to raise a few eyebrows. It will be interesting to find out if Weichong was speaking in the excitement of the moment, or if he still stands by his comment. If the latter, then Asiatic Boy is some specimen and I shall be following his future progress with even greater interest than was already the case.There was further glory for South Africa when David Ferraris and Anthony Delpech teamed up to win the Sheema Classic over 2400m with Vengeance Of Rain � although Hong Kong will also claim the victory as theirs, and rightly so. This has been a marvellous training feat, perhaps the greatest of Ferraris`s career. Former winner of the Hong Kong Cup, Vengeance Of Rain then had some problems in training and appeared to lose his way. Wisely, he was sent off to a farm in New Zealand for a spell and since returning to the track, has gradually worked his way back to his best form. It showed that patience and tenderness can work wonders in dealing with these fragile and sensitive animals and hopefully there will be lessons that others can learn from this.Interestingly, this Dubai meeting produced great results for fans of the top French mare Pride, who won last years Hong Kong Cup. Vengeance Of Rain, who finished third in that race franked the form by winning here at Nad Al Sheba and then, later in the evening, Admire Moon, who had finished fast for second in Hong Kong, won the Dubai Duty Free over 1777m.

This race also had its share of drama: jockey Yutaka Take eased up Admire Moon as the line approached and it became a bit too close for comfort as Linngari came scooting up for second, closing with every stride.

Linngari, of course, is trained by Herman Brown and this was another storming performance from the Irish-bred who came from an impossible position and was really flying at the finish. Versatile and with a good turn of foot, Linngari should be able to hold his own against the world`s best turf milers and we surely have not seen the last of him on the international stage. Brown takes a very studied and sensible approach to planning his horses` programmes and his astute guidance is a further asset to this colt`s prospects.

As for the main event of the night, the Dubai World Cup, it was quite bizarre to see only seven horses line up for the world`s richest race. With US$6m at stake, one would have thought that there would be a raft of high-class entries and that the organisers would have had no problem inviting at least a dozen top runners to showcase their abilities.

Be that as it may, the race proved that Invasor is a seriously high-class racehorse and on the available evidence, he fully deserves his place at the top of the world rankings. What makes his performance truly remarkable was the style of his victory. When he won the Breeders Cup Classic last year, he relaxed early on and then unleashed an irresistible late surge to overwhelm hot favourite Bernadini. This time around, he was handy from the start and, under a supremely confident ride from young Fernando Jara, made an early move on the home turn. Gallant pacemaker Pleasantly Perfect was still going pretty strongly halfway down the straight but Invasor, despite his early exertions, still had another gear in reserve and was able to kick on and secure victory a shade easier than the official margin suggests.

On a personal level, it is hugely satisfying to see an Argentine-bred topping the international rankings. As we in South Africa know only too well, they breed some wonderful racehorses in that part of the world and hopefully the exploits of Invasor will bring this fact home to an even bigger audience.

The race itself would have been a disappointment to many who were hoping to see a match race between Invasor and Discreet Cat, who had inflicted Invasor`s sole career defeat when winning the UAE Derby here last year. Discreet Cat ran miles below his best form to trail in last, although I doubt he could have beaten Invasor anyway, given that particular horse`s machine-like response to any pressure. It showed once again that the most eagerly-anticipated clashes can often go awry, as we saw for example in last year`s Arc de Triomphe.

An honourable mention must go to Hong Kong veteran Bullish Luck who finished a well beaten third. He was having his first run on the dirt and the 2000m trip is a shade far for him, so all in all, this ranks as a wonderful performance from the 7-year-old. He did his connections proud and fully justified them taking their chances here, especially as they had been realistic beforehand about not having any great expectations. It`s interesting how a horse can grow on you - Bullish Luck was the villain of the piece two years ago when he ended Silent Witness`s unbeaten run, but with age and as he has become a permanent feature of Hong Kong Gr 1 racing, he has grown in the people`s affections. This run should further increase his popularity in his home country.

Finally, moving closer to home, Turffontein witnessed a spectacular big-race treble from Geoff Woodruff and Mark Khan, as they teamed up to claim the Derby, Oaks and Horse Chestnut 1600. It was especially pleasing to see the yard in such form given the troubles they endured late last year. Woodruff is one of the gentlemen of the turf and for all his considerable skills and achievements, he remains genuinely modest and self-effacing. The stable is one of, if not the most widely-followed in the country and few will begrudge Woodruff and the affable Khan their success.

Inevitably, the biggest questions arising from their treble centred around stable star Elusive Fort, who was all out to hold off the faster-finishing Biarritz in the Horse Chestnut 1600. With the Gomma Gomma Cup looming, there will be two schools of thought. One is that he should have won a lot easier than he did, given that the race was at weight-for-age and especially with main rival Divine Jury out of the race. With this in mind, he has his work cut out to concede weight all round in Africa`s richest race and his opponents will fancy their chances against him, come the first Saturday in May.

The counter-argument is that, as a Derby winner, 1600m is too sharp for him at this level and hence it was a top performance, especially as he beat home two very good 3-year-olds, both of whom were receiving 3kg and are much better suited to this trip. Furthermore, this race is a stepping stone to the Gomma Gomma in any event, so he surely would not have been quite at his peak. Thus, weight or no weight, he is still going to be the one to beat over the much more suitable 2000m trip in a month`s time.

The various talking points arising from Saturday`s racing will continue to be the source of much debate over the coming months and some issues will be settled conclusively on the race track while others will linger on for a bit. What the day did show, however, is that despite the loss of the likes of Deep Impact and Ouija Board, world racing remains in reasonably good health with plenty of top horses and exciting racing to look forward to for the rest of the year.-Mark Anthony