By Alan Carasso
Dramatically off form for the bulk of the 2025-2026 Dubai Racing Carnival, Sultan Ali's Dark Saffron (Flameaway) was put right into play from a wide draw in defence of his title in Saturday's $2-million G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen and outsprinted reigning GI Breeders' Cup Sprint champion Bentornato (Valiant Minister) to give jockey Connor Beasley and trainer Ahmad Bin Harmash a rolling Group 1 double. The pair teamed to win the Al Quoz Sprint with Native Approach about 35 minutes earlier.
Defeated by a combined 50 lengths after taking his seasonal debut in November, Dark Saffron perked back up with a runner-up effort to El Nasseeb (GB) (Profitable {Ire}) in the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal on Super Saturday Feb. 28 and was back to his very best just after sunset on Saturday.
First to break the line from barrier 11, Dark Saffron argued the pace outside of 2024 winner Tuz (Oxbow) and inside of Khanjar as Bentornato was forced to take his medicine just in behind Tuz. In front passing the 500-metre marker, Dark Saffron found more for pressure and was always holding the American raider in the run to the line. Cats By Five (Audible)–all 600 kilograms of him–ran on for third, while Tuz weakened to finish fourth.
Dark Saffron joins the likes of Caller One and Mind Your Biscuits as back-to-back winners of the Golden Shaheen, which serves as a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for this year's Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland.
“Obviously he won this race last year and he come back and run really well, it was a bit of a workout first time he ran this season,” Beasley said. “Then he had a bit of an incident in the stalls and banged his head and sort of lost his way. I think he lost a bit of confidence for his next three or four runs, but his last run we felt he was coming back to himself.”
“I think the post position cost us the race,” said Bentornato's trainer Jose D'Angelo. “It's the first time that we've seen him running in behind the speed. We have plenty of races and of course, the ultimate goal is the Breeders' Cup again. We'll give him time as always and be ready for that.”
Pedigree Notes:
Dark Saffron is one of 15 worldwide stakes winners, sixth at the graded/group level and his only Northern Hemisphere top-level scorer. He is also the sire of two Group 1 winners in Chile, where his influential late sire Scat Daddy left an enormous legacy behind.
He is one of six winners from seven to the races for his dual stakes-winning and Grade II-placed dam, whose now 3-year-old colt by Beau Liam named Yes Chef is unplaced in two starts. The mare was empty for 2024 and foaled a colt by Global Campaign in 2025 before being bred back to Into Mischief.
Saturday, Meydan, Dubai
DUBAI GOLDEN SHAHEEN SPONSORED BY NAKHEEL-G1, $2,000,000, Meydan, 3-28, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:10.68, fs.
1–DARK SAFFRON, 126, g, 4, by Flameaway
1st Dam: Meadow Saffron (MSW & GSP-US, $164,347),
by Military
2nd Dam: Gigi Gear, by Golden Gear
3rd Dam: My Gidget, by Liloy (Fr)
($25,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP; $120,000 2yo '24 OBSAPR). O-Sultan
Ali; B-Brookdale Farm LLC (KY); T-Ahmad bin Harmash;
J-Connor Beasley. $1,160,000. Lifetime Record: 15-5-3-2,
$2,532,531. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Bentornato, 126, r, 5, Valiant Minister–Her Special Way, by
Put It Back. ($45,000 Ylg '22 OBSOCT; $170,000 2yo '23
OBSMAR; $1,000,000 HRA '25 KEECHA). O-Leon King Stable
Corp and Michael and Julia C. Iavarone; B-Tanma Corp. (FL);
T-Jose Francisco D'Angelo. $400,000.
3–Cats By Five, 126, g, 5, Audible–Catticus, by Bluegrass Cat.
1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. ($575,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP;
$400,000 HRA '24 FTSJUL). O-Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al
Nuaimi; B-Westwind Farms (KY); T-Doug Watson. $200,000.
Margins: 1 3/4, 2 3/4, 1 1/4.
Also Ran: Tuz, Nakatomi, Mufasa (Chi), Colour Up (Ire), Lovesick Blues, Khanjar (Ire), El Nasseeb (GB), Midland Money, American Stage. Scratched: Drew's Gold. Click for the ERA chart.
Emirati victory 🇦🇪
DARK SAFFRON 🥇Ridden by “Connor Beasley” and trained by “Ahmad bin Harmash”, won the “Dubai Golden Shaheen” race on “Dubai World Cup” night at Meydan Racecourse#Dubairacingtv#DWC26#DubaiWorldCup pic.twitter.com/rYAxiSx3G0
— Dubai Racing Channel (@DubaiRacingTV) March 28, 2026
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