Three American-based contenders among international field for UAE Derby

The lone foreign scoring race on the main Road to the Kentucky Derby, the UAE Derby is worth the maximum number of points – 100-40-20-10 – to the top four if eligible. The three South American-bred contenders are not eligible, since they are four-year-olds by Northern Hemisphere reckoning and therefore not able to run in the Kentucky Derby that is strictly for three-year-olds. Pinehurst is ineligible because trainer Bob Baffert is suspended by Churchill Downs Inc.  

The Bill Mott-trained Gilded Age was most recently third in the Withers (G3) at Aqueduct, a race whose stock has been boosted in the interim. Withers runner-up Un Ojo went on to shock the Rebel (G2), and fourth Grantham came back to place second in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2). Gilded Age aims to keep the trend going. The royally-bred son of Medaglia d’Oro will break from post 9 with new rider Luis Saez.

Pinehurst, last year’s Del Mar Futurity (G1) hero, recently regained the winning thread in the Feb. 26 Saudi Derby (G3) on Saudi Cup Day. But he just lasted around a one-turn mile, and the about 1 3/16 miles of the UAE Derby must be a question mark. Pinehurst’s prior two-turn attempt came in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), where he finished fifth. Jockey Flavien Prat will try to nurse his speed along from post 6.

Japan’s Sekifu was closing on Pinehurst in the Saudi Derby, coming up just short. While the added ground could help, Sekifu is drawn in post 14. Also exiting the Saudi Derby are Brazilian import Kiefer (sixth) and Godolphin’s Island Falcon (eighth in his dirt debut). That Saeed bin Suroor pupil hopes to find the Meydan dirt more congenial. 

Godolphin’s primary hope, Combustion, captured the Feb. 20 Hyacinth S. at Tokyo on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. By 2006 UAE Derby winner Discreet Cat, Combustion is the only Japanese shipper who is not an early Triple Crown nominee. His nominated compatriots are Crown Pride, sixth in the Hyacinth, and Reiwa Homare, last seen missing by a head to Sekifu in an Oct. 24 Hanshin allowance. 

Several are veterans of the division’s major races during the Dubai World Cup Carnival, none engaged in the Triple Crown. 

Azure Coast extended his record to a perfect 3-for-3 in the Feb. 11 UAE 2000 Guineas (G3) over a metric mile, going last to first to beat the aforementioned Kiefer. A Kentucky-bred son of 2007 Kentucky Derby champion Street Sense, Azure Coast races for Russian connections. 

Argentine-bred Quality Boone, third in the Guineas, complimented the form by subsequently taking the Mar. 5 Al Bastakiya at this longer distance. The respective second and third in the Al Bastakiya, Withering and Bendoog, renew rivalry, as does sixth-placer Get Back Goldie from the Doug O’Neill barn. 

Bendoog, a Gun Runner colt, is one of three for leading UAE trainer Bhupat Seemar. Summer Is Tomorrow takes a class and distance hike off a Feb. 25 allowance romp, while maiden filly Arabian Gazelles was runner-up to Kentucky Oaks (G1)-bound Shahama in the UAE Oaks (G3) at this trip. 

Uruguayan horseman Antonio Cintra is double-handed with Quality Boone and Irwin, a multiple Group 1 winner who makes his first start outside of his native Argentina. 

The UAE Derby is carded as the fifth race on a blockbuster program that culminates in the $12 million Dubai World Cup, featuring 2021 Derby trail stars Life Is Good, Hot Rod Charlie, and Midnight Bourbon. Post time for the UAE Derby is provisionally 10:10 a.m. (ET), and you can watch and wager on all the Meydan action at TwinSpires.com.