Notable Speech And Docklands Vie For Gulf Miling Crown

Ascot Mile Opens The Road To Meydan

The Gr.1 Queen Anne Stakes, the richest prize on opening day at US$607,931 (£453,680) and the race that traditionally identifies the season's premier older miler in Europe, is carrying an additional dimension in 2026 — it is the opening chapter in the Dubai Turf pipeline, the direct route that connects the Ascot straight mile in June to Meydan's most prestigious prize the following March. The Dubai Turf (Gr.1) offers US$6,000,000 (AED22,038,000), nine times Tuesday's prize, and has been won by horses from Britain, Ireland, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia in the last decade (The full list: Vivlos, Jungle Cat, Lord Glitters, Rbattaglia, Real Steel, Dubai Honour). Only one other horse currently in the Queen Anne field has ever won a Group One in the Gulf. The winner here not only claims the most prestigious mile prize in the British flat racing calendar — they step onto the flight path to the Gulf.

The race pitches Notable Speech (Godolphin, trained by Charlie Appleby, draw 7, William Buick) against the defending champion Docklands (OTI Racing, trained by Harry Eustace, draw 3, Mark Zahra). Notable Speech, the American Champion Male Turf Horse for 2025, arrives having won the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury last month by two lengths from More Thunder. His record reads: the 2000 Guineas, the Sussex Stakes, the Woodbine Mile and the Breeders' Cup Mile, covering four countries and four seasons of sustained brilliance. His owner Godolphin — based in Dubai under Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum — has historically used the Queen Anne as a springboard to the Dubai World Cup Carnival, and the alignment between Notable Speech's profile and the Dubai Turf's requirements is almost perfectly drawn.

Docklands — Gulf Carnival Specialist In The Making

Docklands won this race in 2025 at 14/1 in a photo-finish with Rosallion, adding to his extraordinary record of never finishing outside the first three in six appearances on Ascot's straight mile. His owner Eustace paid tribute to the six-year-old's competitive instinct: "He's an absolute legend for us. If ever there's a track where you want a specialist, it's here. The owners turned down big money for him after he won the Britannia and he is repaying that decision not to sell in spades now. He loves being a racehorse and he's very competitive." On the Lockinge form, Eustace added: "Obviously he ran super last time and particularly to be so competitive having been labelled a straight track horse. I thought that bodes well for the rest of the season."

Docklands subsequently made the journey to Hong Kong and Australia after his 2025 Ascot victory — carrying course-and-distance form at the very highest level on the international circuit. The Australian-owned, Newmarket-trained entire has the profile that Gulf carnival organisers prize above almost all others in the miling division. A second successive Queen Anne victory would make him among the most coveted entries for the Dubai Carnival of 2027.

The Dubai Turf at Meydan is offering US$6,000,000 (AED22,038,000) for the 2027 renewal. Every horse lining up in Tuesday's Queen Anne Stakes is, in effect, auditioning for a place in that field.

Wathnan And Godolphin Renew Gulf Rivalry At Ascot

Two of the Gulf's most powerful ownership operations are sending their leading milers directly into combat. Wathnan Racing, the operation of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, relies on Damysus (draw 2, James Doyle, trained by John and Thady Gosden) — a Frankel colt who has won two Group Three races this season including the Earl of Sefton Stakes, showing the sharp turn of foot that Thady Gosden identified: "He's always been a horse with a great turn of foot. He's matured very well from three to four. Over the winter, he developed very well and he's a strong horse now, he's got plenty of muscle on him." Godolphin counter with Opera Ballo (draw 8), a four-year-old by Ghaiyyath who won the bet365 Mile at Sandown beating Zeus Olympios, bypassing the Lockinge due to soft ground and arriving at Ascot fresh.

The Lockinge runner-up More Thunder (Mr Saeed Suhail, trained by William Haggas, draw 6, Tom Marquand) carries the highest official rating in the field at OR 121. The Night of Thunder colt won the Gr.2 Hungerford Stakes at Newbury last August and was beaten just two lengths by Notable Speech in the Lockinge. Ross Brierley on the Racing Post's Ultimate Royal Ascot Preview Night named him the banker of the week: "His seven-furlong form from last year keeps getting boosted; he's got course form in the book; he stays further; he ran a cracker in the Lockinge, which is the best springboard for the race; William Haggas is on fire."

Also lining up is Zeus Olympios (draw 10, Clifford Lee, trained by Karl Burke), running in the name of the Exors of the Late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, whose bloodstock operation provided Bow Echo, the St James's Palace Stakes favourite running later on the same card. Burke said: "It's important that he wins a Group One because we're trying to make him into a stallion. The Queen Anne isn't going to be an easy one with the Godolphin horse that beat him in the Lockinge there, but that horse has ran twice at Ascot and been beaten both times. I think we learned a bit about our fella at Newbury, he seems in real good form." Cicero's Gift (draw 1, Jason Watson, Charles Hills), Ten Bob Tony (draw 9, Kieran Shoemark, Ed Walker), Expanded (draw 4, A P O'Brien, Coolmore) and First Conquest (draw 5, Charlie Appleby, Godolphin) complete the 10-runner field. Sixteen of the last 23 Queen Anne winners had already struck at Group One level beforehand.

GULF DESTINATION: Dubai Turf (Gr.1) | Meydan Racecourse | March 2027 | US$6,000,000 (AED22,038,000)

Also lining up is Zeus Olympios (draw 10, Clifford Lee, trained by Karl Burke), running in the name of the Exors of the Late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, whose bloodstock operation provided Bow Echo, the St James's Palace Stakes favourite running later on the same card. Burke said: "It's important that he wins a Group One because we're trying to make him into a stallion. The Queen Anne isn't going to be an easy one with the Godolphin horse that beat him in the Lockinge there, but that horse has ran twice at Ascot and been beaten both times. I think we learned a bit about our fella at Newbury, he seems in real good form." Cicero's Gift (draw 1, Jason Watson, Charles Hills), Ten Bob Tony (draw 9, Kieran Shoemark, Ed Walker), Expanded (draw 4, A P O'Brien, Coolmore) and First Conquest (draw 5, Charlie Appleby, Godolphin) complete the 10-runner field. Sixteen of the last 23 Queen Anne winners had already struck at Group One level beforehand.

GULF DESTINATION: Dubai Turf (Gr.1) | Meydan Racecourse | March 2027 | US$6,000,000 (AED22,038,000)