UAE Derby 2015: Post Time, Post Positions and Schedule

On March 28, some of the best three- and four-year-old horses in the world will meet up for a showdown at Meydan Racecourse in the Grade Two UAE Derby.

Run on the Dubai World Cup undercard, the UAE Derby is unlike any other derby prep race, as it features three-year-olds born in the Southern Hemisphere. This makes for an interesting field, because in the Northern Hemisphere we would consider those same horses to be four years old.

In addition to the mixing of ages, the race is 1 ^3/16 miles long, making it one of the longer races on the Derby prep trail.

Because of this, there's an interesting mix of horses that are and aren't eligible for the Triple Crown field. That said, the race still carries a massive purse ($2 million) and the winner—if he should be a Northern-Hemisphere-born three-year-old—will take home 100 points toward a spot in the Kentucky Derby field.

Second place (40 points) and third place (20 points) can also help to put a horse over the hump and into the Derby field, so the race merits a close watch.

In the past, we've seen the UAE Derby churn out winners like Toast of New York, who would go on to finish second to Shared Belief in the 2014 Pacific Classic and second again to Bayern in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

It wouldn't be a surprise to see a great horse come out of this field again and contend in at least one leg of the Triple Crown.

UAE Derby Info

When: Saturday, March 28 at 9:55 a.m. ET

Where: Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, UAE

Post Positions and Riders

This year's field has a few Derby entries in it, and all three could have a say in the race's final order of finish. Post positions will play a huge role given the length of the race, so I'd definitely recommend taking a look at those in the chart below:

Position	Horse	Jockey
1	Mubtaahij (IRE)	Christophe Soumillon
2	Motaa (KSA)	Jose Lezcano
3	Alnajem Alfaiz (KSA)	Mickael Barzalona
4	Sir Fever (URU)	William Buick
5	Faithful Creek (IRE)	Kieren Fallon
6	Tap That (JPN)	Joao Moreira
7	Golden Barrows (USA)	Ryan Moore
8	My Johnny Be Good (USA)	Victor Espinoza
9	Maftool (USA)	Paul Hanagan
10	Dear Domus (JPN)	Kosei Miura

Mubtaahij profiles as the morning-line favorite, and for good reason. The three-year-old son of Dubawi has looked nearly unbeatable in his past four races (three firsts and one second) and already owns a victory at this distance over the same course they'll run Saturday.

Behind him, the next two favorites should be Golden Barrows and Maftool.

To get a better look at these three horses, and one other contender to watch, let's move to a full-race preview.

Race Preview

Of the 10 horses selected for this year's running of the UAE Derby, three have been nominated for Triple Crown races, those being Maftool, Mubtaahij and My Johnny Be Good, according to Richard Rosenblatt of the Associated Press.

That could make things very interesting, as Mubtaahij looks like the horse to beat in this hugely important race. The young colt drew a favorable position, and the possibility that he'll ride the rail just off the pace set by likely pacesetter Sir Fever is just too tempting to pass up.

Last time out, Mubtaahij ran in the Al Bastakiya at Meydan and trounced second-place finisher and UAE Derby hopeful Sir Fever.

Sir Fever and Ajwad set a rather quick pace on the front end, allowing Mubtaahij to sit comfortably and make a three-wide turn for home before opening up to a nearly three-length victory. All-in-all, it was an impressive victory over a field that included another UAE Derby contender.

The track has a bit of a speed bias and should play heavily toward forwardly placed horses. Trainer Michael de Kock is less known for his dirt runners. However, given this colt has raced well on dirt and the potential for De Kock to send him to the Kentucky Derby, expect him to have Mubtaahij ready to fire for this $2 million Derby prep race.

Second choice is Golden Barrows, who pulls English-born rider Ryan Moore for the mount.

The chestnut colt is a tough horse to pin down because, quite frankly, we don't know much about him as he makes the trip from Japan, where he's a regular in the Tokyo racing circuit. My Johnny Be Good trainer Eoin Harty told Jonathan Lintner of The Courier-Journal that "the Japanese horses are really nice" and that he probably should have taken them into consideration as contenders.

That gives us a little insight as to how the competition might view this three-year-old son of Tapit.

We also have the benefit of video from January 31 which shows that the Noriyuki Hori-trained colt may occupy the same space as Mubtaahij in this race:

Golden Barrows raced out of the seven hole and between the first quarter and opening half began an aggressive move up the outside of the pack, running two- or three-wide for most of the race. Over the course of his run up the outside, Golden Barrows made up roughly eight lengths' worth of distance between him and the leader en route to a 2.5-length victory over the next-closest contender.

The young colt looks to have the pedigree and closing speed necessary to best this field of top-tier contenders.

Maftool, the second of three Kentucky Derby nominees in the UAE Derby field, has a chance to walk away a winner on Saturday.

This three-year-old son of Hard Spun bested Mubtaahij his last time out in the Grade Three UAE 2000 Guineas. Run over the mile-long dirt course at Meydan, the UAE 2000 Guineas presents us with arguably our best look at the young colt's potential.

Running out of the sixth post position, Maftool ran fourth position for most of the race, sitting just off the pace set by Burnt Sugar. Maftool and Mubtaahij made their moves at the same time from nearly the same positions, and the outside lane proved vital for Maftool, as the Saeed Bin Suroor-trained colt was able to squeak out a narrow victory.

Expect Maftool to again push Mubtaahij around the track, but don't expect a result similar to the one we saw when these two hooked up back in February.