UAE Derby

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2020 UAE Derby Entries and Results

**RACE CANCELLED**

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Watch the 2019 UAE Derby

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UAE Derby

At $2.5 million, the UAE Derby is the richest race in the Road to the Kentucky Derby series, and the only one of the main series held outside the United States. It’s one of the most important in terms of qualifying as well, with the first four getting points on a 100-40-20-10 basis. That means the winner will certainly earn a start in the Derby, and it’s likely the second-place horse will earn enough points as well.

There is one proviso: the race is open to southern hemisphere-bred 3-year-olds, who are about six months older than their northern hemisphere counterparts and thus not eligible for the Kentucky Derby. So if they finish in points-earning positions ahead of their northern hemisphere-bred opponents, the points won’t count towards the First Saturday in May.

The inaugural UAE Derby winner China Visit finished sixth in the 2000 Kentucky Derby, but no subsequent winner of the UAE Derby has finished any closer at Churchill Downs. However, horses like Discreet Cat, Toast of New York, and Mubtaahij distinguished themselves in the U.S later in their careers, and Lani subsequently finished third in the Belmont Stakes.

The best performance by a UAE Derby runner came from 2011 runner-up Master of Hounds, who finished fifth in 2011. Two of the UAE Derby winners that started at Churchill Downs – Daddy Long Legs and Thunder Snow – failed to finish, with the latter refusing to join the race in 2017. The race has been dominated by Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor, who has won the race eight times, and by South African trainer Mike de Kock, who has won it six times. Ireland’s Aidan O’Brien has won it twice, while other victories have gone to Britain’s Jamie Osborne (Toast of New York) and Japan’s Mikio Matsunaga (Lani).

Previous Winners of the UAE Derby