On Saturday, 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin begins defense of his title in earnest when he takes on a field of top international horses in the $6 million Dubai World Cup, the world's richest horse race. Winner of the Preakness Stakes, the big chestnut colt came back from his narrow loss to the filly Rags to Riches in the history-making Belmont Stakes to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park and Breeders' Cup Classic at soggy Monmouth Park en route to claiming the champion's crown.

An easy victor in his 4-year-old debut, Nad al Sheba's Jaguar Trophy Handicap, Curlin toted 132 pounds, spotting 15 pounds to each of his rivals, and won the race by 2¼ lengths in 2:00.06.

As he did in 2007, Curlin attracts attention wherever he goes. And now, he turns the spotlight on the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a country that in the past few years has exploded as a leader in both the Middle Eastern and global markets.

As a business major at Wagner College, I had the opportunity to travel to the city of Dubai in January in conjunction with the Center for International Business Strategic Studies. The purpose of the 10-day course was to expose students to both the culture and the business environment of the nation, where construction and development projects worth billions of dollars are being introduced and completed every day.

Home to the world's tallest building, the world's largest mall, and the only seven-star hotel in the world, everything seems bigger, and newer, in Dubai.

Our group nicknamed Dubai “The Emerald City” because it looks so fantastic – in the heart of the city you’re surrounded by enormous buildings that are architecturally captivating, as well as beautiful landscaping with swards of grass and palm trees everywhere. The bright desert sun bounces off the massive amounts of glass and gold that make the buildings of Dubai so spectacular.

On the city’s outskirts, you’re likely to see a 50-story building next to an empty sandlot; 25 minutes away you’re surrounded by nothing but sand dunes for as far as you can see.

While the emirate of Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai has emerged as the clear leader of growth in the region under the rule of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and Vice President of the UAE and known to horse racing fans as the owner of Darley Stables and Godolphin Stables.

In Dubai, manufacturing, financial services, and trade are the main sources of income, spurred by its central location between London and the eastern cities of Singapore and Hong Kong, with oil accounting for 6 percent of the economy.

Tourism is big business in Dubai, too, where one can choose to ride either a camel or a four-wheel drive through the sand dunes, or even ski indoors at Ski Dubai, located in the huge Mall of the Emirates. Set to open in 2010 is Dubailand, a 3-billion square foot amusement park with its own shopping mall, restaurants and resorts. Within Dubailand is the City of Arabia, which will feature residences, offices, and boutique shopping, and most notably, Restless Planet, a Jurassic Park-like area featuring a number of animatronic dinosaurs.

With so many foreign workers taking advantage of the booming economy, it took a few days before we met anyone actually born in Dubai, but it is the city’s diverse make-up that no doubt contributes to the extraordinarily gracious manner with which we were treated. No matter where we went, we made new friends; even a banking official offered to take time away from work to drive us to our hotel in his personal car.

As impressed as we were, the people we met were just as enthusiastic about the fact we were from New York, a destination high on many travel lists.

And with Curlin in this weekend's World Cup, the connection between the United States and Dubai is in the spotlight even more.

NYRA intern Morgan Scott (blue sweater in front row), and fellow Wagner College students meet with Mubarak Rashed al Doosan, head of Customer Service at Dubai Financial Market.