Dubai: First Kentucky Derby points up for grabs in UAE 2000 Guineas
?q=100)
Six Speed stands a decent chance of getting on the Kentucky Derby qualifying-points board in the UAE 2000 Guineas on Friday at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
The UAE 2000 Guineas, a one-turn mile, is a new addition to the system Churchill Downs has created that forms the Kentucky Derby field, capped at 20 runners, with more horses than the maximum lining up to run every year. The race is part of the newly formed European/Middle East Road to the Derby, which merges two previous Derby qualifying paths.
The European Road to the Derby, which never had a real impact on the Derby itself, was combined with several races in the Middle East, the UAE 2000 Guineas the first of them, followed by the Saudi Derby next month. The series culminates with the UAE Derby, previously a major qualifier in the general Road to the Derby that includes American races, but now the key event in the newly form European/Middle East road.
While the first five finishers Friday earn 20, 10, 6, 4, and 2 points, the horse that wins the UAE Derby gets 100 points that will swamp whatever totals are accumulated before that March 28 race.
An American-bred son of Not This Time, Six Speed debuted Nov. 7, finished third, and since has won two starts, most recently a three-length score in the Guineas Trial on Jan. 2. His trainer, Bhupat Seemar, sent out Summer is Tomorrow to a 20th-place in the 2022 Kentucky Derby after the horse had run second in the UAE Derby.
The Argentine import Legalaized was making his first Northern Hemisphere start finishing second in the Guineas Trial and easily could move forward from that comeback run. Devon Island runs for Godolphin, trainer Charlie Appleby, and jockey William Buick, but wins in his last two starts, both on dirt, came against soft competition.
Seemar trains six of the nine entrants in the card’s feature, the Group 1, $1 million Al Maktoum Challenge, among them Walk of Stars, who comfortably won the 2025 renewal of this race. Fourth in the Dubai World Cup, Walk of Stars made his seasonal bow Dec. 19 finishing third behind two of his Friday opponents, Heart of Honor and Artorius. Tumbarumba, based in America throughout his career before being sent abroad by his owner, Wathnan Racing, checked in eighth that same race while making his Dubai debut. The natural miler will struggle to stay 1 3/16 miles Friday.
Also carded is the Group 1 Jebel Hatta, a 1 1/8-mile prep for the prep for the $5 million Dubai Turf on the World Cup card. Opera Ballo crushed his Appleby-trained stablemate, world traveler Nations Pride, when they met last month at Meydan and will be favored under Buick to do so again Friday.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.