SOS Brillante tops UAE Guineas

SOS Brillante puts her 2-for-2 record on the line at Nad Al Sheba on Friday night when she faces nine rivals in the one-mile, $250,000 UAE 1000 Guineas, a listed race that was won last year by her stablemate Cocoa Beach.

The similarities between the two fillies are numerous. Both were bred in Chile and are now trained by Saeed bin Suroor. SOS Brillante went Cocoa Beach one better in her Nad Al Sheba debut when she won a seven-furlong allowance by two lengths, a year after Cocoa Beach had finished second in the same race. A daughter of the Mr. Prospector stallion Dance Brightly, SOS Brillante had won her only previous start, a six-furlong dirt maiden at the Hipodromo Chile last March 29 by 11 3/4 lengths. Further improvement is expected in Friday night's Guineas.

The field also includes Devotee, a Saratoga maiden winner who was most recently third in Keeneland's Alcibiades Stakes.