Godolphin’s Devon Island leads 16-strong field in UAE 2000 Guineas

Jan 22, 2026 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Devon Island wins at Meydan Dec. 12, 2025

Godolphin's Devon Island is the favorite in the UAE 2000 Guineas (Photo by Dubai Racing Club)

The Euro/Mideast Road to the Kentucky Derby kicks into another gear in Dubai on Friday, with the UAE 2000 Guineas (G3) at Meydan.

Held over 1600 meters (“a metric mile”) on dirt, the UAE Guineas will remake this road’s leaderboard by offering points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis.

But it marks a significant turning point on the Euro/Mideast Road in another way. Last fall’s four scoring races were all European contests on turf, featuring horses likelier to pursue the continent’s own classics than the U.S. Triple Crown.

As we turn onto the Mideast stretch of the road, these promising three-year-olds are competing on dirt. Their proficiency on the surface enhances the possibilities of advancing to the Kentucky Derby (G1).

The UAE Guineas is a new addition to the Euro/Mideast Road, along with the Feb. 14 Saudi Derby (G3) and the Feb. 20 Dubai Road to the Kentucky Derby S. (formerly known as the Al Bastakiya) back at Meydan. The series returns to Europe for a pair of races on Polytrack (a synthetic, all-weather surface) – the Feb. 25 Road to the Kentucky Derby Conditions race at Kempton and the March 6 Patton at Dundalk.

The grand finale of the Euro/Mideast Road is the March 28 UAE Derby (G2), worth 100 points to the winner.

Just as the stepping stones on the Derby trail in America build up to the last round of major preps, so does Friday’s UAE 2000 Guineas serve as an audition for the UAE Derby hopefuls.

A contentious field of 16 entered, including Godolphin’s Devon Island; Brotherly Love, a half-brother to 2025 UAE Derby near-misser Heart of Honor; and Six Speed, winner of the Guineas Trial, who will renew rivalry with several others exiting the same Jan. 2 race at Meydan.

Devon Island, a Kentucky-bred son of Practical Joke, was purchased by Godolphin for about $731,176 as a two-year-old in training at France’s Arqana Breeze Up Sale. The Charlie Appleby pupil was runner-up in his debut at Kempton before taking to the dirt handsomely at Meydan. Devon Island has won both of his starts at this track and trip impressively, beating Brotherly Love.

“Devon Island is unbeaten since switching to dirt, although this is a step up in class against several horses with a similar profile to him,” Appleby told the Dubai Racing Club. “He has improved mentally as much as physically with each run, and we will be slightly wiser regarding what the future holds after this.”

Brotherly Love has since complemented Devon Island by breaking his maiden in fine style in his latest. Improving with blinkers, he drew off from the first-time starter Yamdeek, who was a very encouraging second.

Like Heart of Honor, who competed in last year’s Preakness (G1) and Belmont (G1), Brotherly Love is trained by Jamie Osborne for Jim and Claire Ltd. The stablemates share the same jockey, Saffie Osborne, the trainer’s daughter.

“Originally we thought we’d leave him until the (Dubai) Road to Kentucky Derby (on Feb. 20), but he looks great, and he’s been training great,” Jamie Osborne said. “A mile is the inner edge of how far he can go; the 1900 meters (the about 1 3/16-mile distance of the Feb. 20 race) is going to be so much better for him.

“Saffie is of the opinion that he’s so much sharper in the blinkers that he’ll be able to sit a little closer to them, and Devon Island in particular.”

Six Speed, a Kentucky-bred by Not This Time, is part of a four-strong team for trainer Bhupat Seemar. The $304,680 Tattersalls Breeze Up buy made a rookie mistake when third on debut, but he’s subsequently won two in a row. In the Guineas Trial at about seven furlongs, he pulled away from Legalaized.

“He showed some grit last time,” Seemar said. “He went up there with the pace and then sat back a little and took some kickback, then when the opening came, he shot clear. He should be able to get the mile well.”

Interestingly, Mickael Barzalona picks up the mount on Six Speed as the barn’s go-to rider, Tadhg O’Shea, opted for Lino Padrino. The New Jersey-bred, a $200,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May juvenile, dominated his debut before winding up a slow-starting fourth behind Six Speed in the Guineas Trial. An alert start could reverse the result, if Lino Padrino can work out a trip from the far outside post 16.

“We have high hopes for Lino Padrino,” Seemar said.  “We’ve done some work with him at the gates as he was slowly away last time, so hoping for a better break. Tadhg chose him as he’s a horse with a lot of talent.”

Seemar’s other two are both new recruits to the stable. Kentucky-bred Rammaas arrives from Gulfstream Park, where he was most recently third in the Nov. 22 Juvenile Sprint. Irish-bred Senator of State was acquired after his maiden score at Dundalk.

“Rammaas was an impressive winner at Gulfstream (two starts back),” Seemar said. “He’s still in quarantine, but we worked him on Sunday, and he impressed us. I think he has a good future, but we just don’t know him too well yet.

“Senator of State was a winner at Dundalk on his last start, who has just come over, and he’s running on the dirt for the first time, so it’s going to be a little bit different for him.”

Yamdeek, one of three representing trainer Ahmad bin Harmash, notably keeps stable jockey Connor Beasley aboard. His stablemates are Union Security, a son of champion Maximum Security who was third in the Guineas Trial, and Jebel Ali debut winner Yasup, a half-brother (by Yaupon) to Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) star Shisospicy.

Other contenders to watch are Raajehh, a good-looking debut winner for Michael Costa, and Duke of Immatin, a $425,000 son of Gun Runner who had an equipment failure that contributed to his toss-out seventh in the Trial.

Three of the Guineas entrants are South American imports – Argentina's Legalaized and the Uruguayan-breds Namaguederaz and Don Pelicano.

Because the Southern Hemisphere breeding season is in the second half of the year, opposite to the Northern Hemisphere, they are still counted as three-year-olds by their reckoning. But because they are technically four-year-olds on Northern Hemisphere time, these runners are too old for the Kentucky Derby and therefore ineligible for points.

You can watch and wager on the Meydan action at TwinSpires.com. First post on the blockbuster “Fashion Friday” card is 8:30 a.m. ET, and the UAE Guineas goes off as the eighth race at 12:35 p.m. ET.

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