Chris Wall's got the Premio ticket

Newmarket trainer Chris Wall hopes to strike an early blow for the Brits with Premio Loco in round one of the Maktoum Challenge tomorrow, which kicks off the action at Sheikh Mohammed's magnificent new Meydan racecourse in Dubai.

The official opening of the $2billion track will be on 27 March, the night of the $10million Dubai World Cup, but trainers from 20 countries have arrived in town for the Carnival.

These may be crisis times in Dubai, with their total debt being estimated at around $179bn, but that won't take the gloss off proceedings as the racing industry gets its first real look at the 60,000-capacity state-of-the art track. Premio Loco won five races last season, including two on the Polytrack, which is very similar to Meydan's Tapeta surface and Wall is hopeful his six-year-old will make a big impact for his small stable in the Group 3 one-mile event.

Wall said: "Premio Loco has been in Dubai for 10 days and has settled really well. He has had a spin around the track and handled the surface fine, so, though the January snow held up his preparation, I hope he'll do himself justice.

"We are under no illusions that Premio Loco needs to step up a notch on his form so far but he won twice in Germany last back-end and travelling seems to bring out the best in him.

"If he runs well we'll be staying on in Dubai and the prime target is the Godolphin Mile on World Cup night."