Showdown in UAE Guineas

The UAE 1000 Guineas, Thursday night's $250,000 one-mile feature at Nad Al Sheba, offers a meeting between Argentina's champion 2-year-old filly of 2004, Forty Greeta, and the well-regarded Irish invader Slip Dance.

The undefeated Forty Greeta, winner of her last two starts at the Group 1 level, by five lengths in the Gran Premio Jorge de Atucha and by four lengths in the Estrellas Juvenile Fillies, rates a favorite's chance. By Roar, Forty Greeta already holds a five-length decision over Guineas rival Quelenden Candela, the winner of the Group 1 Estrella Juveniles Sprint. Quelenden Candela, however, was only 1 1/4 lengths back in third when she made her her Nad Al Sheba debut, behind Littletown Bridge and Sun Sprinkles, who will also line up Thursday.

Slip Dance followed a victory over colts in the restricted $243,000 Irish Breeders Foal Levy Stakes at The Curragh with a fifth-place finish, beaten just a length, in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket last fall. She has never run on dirt, nor has she ever been farther than seven furlongs, but she should handle a mile, as she is by a French Derby winner, Celtic Swing.

Godolphin has won this race each of the last three years, with Catstar, Mezzo Soprano, and Infinite Spirit. This time Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor will give Frankie Dettori a leg up on Satin Kiss, a Seeking the Gold filly whose best effort in four outings was a win in a modest six-furlong Haydock Park allowance last August.