Kentucky Derby Context: Six Speed

A frontrunning type who has raced exclusively in Dubai, Six Speed sped to the front from the starting gate of the UAE Derby (G2) at Meydan in late March and led all the way to deep stretch, holding well to finish a clear second after being passed by Wonder Dean. The dark bay colt recorded a convincing win in the one-mile UAE 2000 Guineas (G3) two starts previously, recording all three career wins at distances from six furlongs to a mile, and the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby distance represents a challenge. But Six Speed may have needed the last start after a two-month freshening, skipping the prep between the UAE 2000 Guineas and UAE Derby, and he promises to bring early speed to the Kentucky Derby.

OWNER: Brunetti Dugan Stables, Black Type Thoroughbreds (Jake Ballis), Steve Adkisson, and Swinbank Stables (Reagan Swinbank) privately purchased Six Speed following a convincing win in the UAE Guineas Trial in early January. This will be the second Kentucky Derby starter for Ballis and Swinbank, who were among the partnership that campaigned Join in the Dance, seventh in the 2009 edition, and the first Kentucky Derby runner for Brunetti Dugan and Adkisson.

TRAINER: Bhupat Seemar will make his first Kentucky Derby appearance with Six Speed. From India, Seemar worked as an assistant for Bob Baffert and his uncle, multiple leading Dubai trainer Satish Seemar, before taking out his license in 2021. 

JOCKEY: TBD

BREEDER: Bred in Kentucky by KatieRich Farms (Larry and Karen Doyle), Six Speed brought a $50,000 winning bid as a yearling and was resold for approximately $300,000 as a two-year-old at the 2025 Tattersalls Breeze-Up Sale in England. The Doyles bred Instilled Regard, fourth in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, and Six Speed will be their second representative.

SIRE: Six Speed is from the sixth crop Grade 3 winner Not This Time, who appeared poised to be a serious factor on the road to the 2017 Kentucky Derby but was forced to retire after a close second in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). He quickly established himself as a top sire, producing multiple Grade 1 winners from his first crop, and his offspring displayed tremendous versatility, winning short and long, and at a high-class level on dirt and turf. Champion three-year-old male Epicenter, runner-up in the 2019 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, led Not This Time’s second crop.

DAM: Six Speed is the third foal to race out of stakes-placed Browse, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro who has also produced a minor stakes winner. Out of Grade 2 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed Daydreaming, a half-sister to Grade 1 turf winner Imagining, Browse is from the extended female family of 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and 2006 Kentucky Derby runner-up Bluegrass Cat. By El Prado, Medaglia d’Oro proved to be an outstanding stallion, producing more than 100 graded/group stakes winners, including Kentucky Oaks (G1) winners Rachel Alexandra (2009), Plum Pretty (2011), and Good Cheer (2025). Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness (G1) during her Horse of the Year campaign. As a broodmare sire, Medaglia d’Oro has been responsible for 2020 Belmont (G1) winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up Tiz the Law, 2024 Belmont runner-up Mindframe, and 2024 Preakness (G1) third Catching Freedom.