Meydan Review - 7th November
The 2025-26 season in Dubai is underway and on Friday afternoon, racing returned at Meydan. The opening card serves as an appetiser for the bigger Carnival races to come later in the winter, but with a couple of interesting maidens and a headline act in the opening race, there was plenty of interest in the 7 race card. Here is our review of the data from the best of the action;
Emirates Airline 3YO Conditions Race - Dark Saffron
The 2025 Golden Shaheen winner was the star name on Friday’s card and Dark Saffron duly delivered for the Meydan crowd, running out a comfortable 4 length winner under Connor Beasley. If we were purely to assess this on the official ratings, then Dark Saffron did little more than would have been expected of him on these terms. Quickly into stride, he took just 5.8s to reach 50 km/h and once in front, Beasley was able to control the pace before kicking clear of what will surely prove to be inferior opposition in the home straight. Such a comfortable performance, in a race where he has been able to run the fastest individual split for 5 of the 6 furlongs, probably doesn’t give us a great steer as to how much he may be able to achieve in Dubai this season. However, the old saying that “you can only beat the horses you’re racing against” rings true and the data backs up the visual impression that he was entirely dominant in this field. A winning time of 1:11.84 was 1.54s quicker than the 2-year-old maiden run an hour later, but perhaps a better gauge for this performance is the comparison to the 6 furlong handicap won by Road Bloc. That race was run in a time of 1:13.94 and whilst Road Bloc is not in the same class as Dark Saffron, he does have a decent record at this time of year and works as a good comparison. We can say that in a race where he was forced to do all of his own work, Dark Saffron was over 2s faster than a competitive handicap and if we assume that he will improve again for the benefit of this return, then there are likely to be more big races for Dark Saffron to win throughout this seasons carnival.
Arabian Adventures Maiden - Gray Boss
It didn’t take long for Tadhg O’Shea to get on the board and he duly delivered the Bhupatl Seemar trained Gray Boss to win the maiden over 1,400m. This was a racecourse debut for the son of Street Boss, but he had been an impressive 5 length winner of a trial race here in March and put that experience in the Spring to good use. Breaking smartly from his wide draw, he took 6.0s to reach 50 km/h from the gate, running opening furlongs of 14.16 and 10.45s to sit on the leaders quarters around the turn. For a brief moment in the straight, it appeared that Mystery Chime (2nd) had got away from him, but once straightened up, Gray Boss stayed on very strongly, taking 0.61s out of the runner-up over the final quarter of a mile. The key to this effort in the straight was Gray Boss’ stride length, which averaged 6.90 and 6.81m for the final 2 furlongs, a drop of just 1.3% into the final furlong. By contrast, the petrol gauge was flashing red for the runner-up, whose stride dropped from 6.85 to 6.58m (3.9%) as he tired after making most of the running from his low draw. It’s fine margins and we should highlight the fact that this pair had pulled over 4 lengths clear of the rest by the time that they crossed the line. However, the winner was the faster of the 2 over the final quarter of a mile and he recorded the better run-out speed at 49.68 mph, so there is no obvious reason to think that this form can be overturned in the future. Mystery Chime may well win a maiden, particularly if he gets another decent draw, but the winner is the horse to take from this given the way he finished the race and it’s not impossible to think that he may be able to make up into a pattern performer as the season goes on.
Emirates Courier Express Maiden - Union Security
Union Security had been relatively eye-catching when finishing 2nd in a trial race at Jebel Ali last month, but he showed a superb turn-of-foot to win this 2-year-old maiden and looks to be bound for the classics on this evidence. Sat behind the pace, Sam Hitchcott was forced to wait for the gap to come on the inside, but when it did, Union Security quickened through it readily, coming home with race best furlongs of 11.94 and 12.07s. Whilst a case could be made that the early leader (Six Speed) did too much in front, he seems unlikely to have beaten the Ahmad bin Harmash trained colt in any case. Once in the clear, Union Security lengthened his stride and the fact that he reached his peak average stride frequency (2.35 per second) in the final furlong would suggest that there is more to come. To add some context to those closing furlongs, he was faster than both Gray Boss and Dark Saffron for the final quarter of a mile. Whilst those races were run differently, a finishing speed of 100.5% does suggest that this maiden was run at an even pace and as such, the performance of Union Security can be upgraded.
Emirates Airline Handicap - Cupid’s Dream
What a day for Argentine jockey William Pereyra. On his first ever visit to Meydan, he rode a big race double as he guided both Shepperton Lodge and Cupid’s Dream to victory. The latter’s performance was a particularly good ride given that his mount ranked only 8th for his top speed figure (67 km/h). All of this came despite the fact that Cupid’s Dream didn’t run any of the fastest furlong splits in the race, but as you can see from the replay above, he was going so well that he didn’t need to be fully extended. He is a 4-year-old son of Dubawi who failed to win in a couple of starts for Charlie Appleby in the UK. After a couple of below par efforts last season, he returned in superb form under a well judged ride to win this handicap from a mark of 96. Under a relatively motionless Pereyra, he moved into contention around the home turn with ease. Once in front, he eased clear despite the fact that his average stride length of 6.71m was one of the shortest in the 13 runner field. He remains relatively lightly raced and may not have too much more improvement to find were he to take the step into pattern company later in the season.