In 1996 international racing was developing on all fronts and becoming ever more popular without a single common link between these valuable and prestigious contests taking place the world over. A remarkable opportunity to appeal to a wider audience was staring racing in the face. Here was a chance to develop a global series linking the world's top international races into an annual world championship.

Racing authorities throughout the world seized the initiative by detailing the kind of financing required by this proposed world championship was drafted. How would the championship pay for horses to travel all over the world? How could global television coverage be guaranteed? Other complex legal and marketing issues had to be resolved. And, most of all, a sponsor was needed. Enter, in 1999, the participation of Emirates Airlines. The Emirates World Series Racing Championship was born.

Racing had never known such an unprecedented, ambitious and far-reaching project but it was never going to remain unchanged and written in stone from day one. Indeed, its founders clearly stated before Almutawakel won the first leg of the first EWSRC, the Dubai World Cup, that the formula would have to be tinkered with now and again before it could be considered a winning one.

Godolphin's excellent grey five-year-old colt Daylami had already cantered to inaugural World Series glory on the back of easy wins in the King George at Ascot, the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, and the Breeders' Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park by the time the party would up at the Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin. However, and most importantly, racing's global vision had started well. The World Series wasn't perfect but it provided the public with the best means possible of identifying what the sport needs and thrives on - a champion, and a world champion at that.

Year two of the EWSRC brought another victory for Godolphin and the first of two world champion titles for the Fantastic Light who claimed the last-gasp honour in the Hong Kong Cup and last year, the third renewal of the Series, saw twelve individual legs being staged for the first time as Europe's premier championship race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, entered the fold.

And then came the shock last September that Emirates was backing out of its sponsorship of the WRSC. Nevertheless, it was announced three months later at the Hong Kong International Races that this global search for an equine star would continue undaunted without its previous financial backing and indeed be extended to include Hong Kong's Audemars Piguet QEII Cup in April 2002 and the Singapore Airlines International Cup at Kranji Racecourse, Singapore, a month later. The news was something of a coup for the Hong Kong Jockey Club as only the United States with the Arlington Million and Breeders' Cup Classic and Turf currently hosts more World Series races than Hong Kong.

Both races should prove complementary additions. Phase One of the old Emirates World Series lulled between the opening salvo of the Dubai World Cup in March and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at the end of July before the remainder of its races arrived relatively thick and fast until its December climax in Hong Kong.

World Series Phase Two means that the top horses in training in the spring have every incentive to target three international Group 1 races offering unrivalled prize-money. Furthermore, the enhanced World Series also offers a better opportunity for horses based in the Southern Hemisphere and Japan to rack up valuable earnings and championship points where there was previously a gap in the international programme.

The AP QEII Cup falls just four weeks after the Dubai meeting, while the Singapore Airlines International Cup arrives three weeks later.

Jim And Tonic and Silvano proved last year that this 'mini series' could be tackled successfully - and very lucratively. Both Jim And Tonic and Silvano each picked up over US$ 1.5 Million, winning one and placing in at least one other. There should be no shortage of pretenders to their globetrotting crowns as more and more owners and trainers choose to compete in the highest stakes races irrespective of the venue.

Despite these brave new initiatives, the search for a new sponsor has, thus far, been fruitless and unless a sponsor is secured, many would-be international competitors may have to pay a greater contribution of their travelling costs, something which if allowed to persist interminably may hit the whole idea of the WSRC quite hard indeed.