The Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 1, is a horse race run over a distance of 1,600 metres (1 mile) in January on dirt at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. It is the first of three races in the Al Maktoum Challenge series which serve as trial races for the Dubai World Cup. It was first run in 1994 on dirt at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse. It was transferred to Meydan in 2010 where it was run on the synthetic Tapeta Footings surface. In 2015 the synthetic surface at Meydan was replaced by a dirt track.