With An Eye on the Kentucky Derby, Ballis and Partners Buy Dubai-Based Not This Time Colt

[Wandering Eyes]

Jake Ballis and a group of partners finalized the purchase of the Dubai-based Six Speed (Not This Time) Monday morning with hopes that the colt can continue to move forward and make it to the GI Kentucky Derby.

Ballis noticed the horse, who sold for 220,000 guineas at the 2025 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, when he won a Jan. 2 prep for the 2000 UAE Guineas. Now in the Ballis stable, he will start in Friday's GIII 2000 UAE Guineas at one mile. The race awards 20 Kentucky Derby points to the winner.

“I was actually flying and had a layover and was watching the Dubai races on my phone and saw this horse win a trial race in Dubai,” Ballis said. “Visually, he was impressive. He sat on the rail, took dirt, and was behind horses and finished strong. I flew to Gulfstream and I looked him up and saw that it was an expensive 2-year-old purchase, and I figured he wouldn't be for sale. I flew home the next day and my wife said, 'Did you see this Not This Time colt win? We should inquire about it.' I told her that I did see the race but that I didn't think the horse would be for sale. I ended up getting in touch with the trainer via a friend of mine, Adam Potts, who works for BBA Ireland, and I asked him to reach out and try to negotiate a deal. He's a Not This Time colt with a very good pedigree. Usually, we don't buy enough yearlings to get the sire-type pedigrees when it comes to colts.  We may go and get one a year. The fact we could take on partners with this horse was important. We're hoping he can get some Kentucky Derby points and, hopefully,  he can stretch out and get on the Kentucky Derby trail, which is what our partners all want.”

Should Six Speed, a Kentucky-bred who was bred by Katie Rich Farms, have a successful run in the UAE 2000 Guineas, he will be pointed for the GII UAE Derby on March 28.

Ballis said the colt will remain with trainer Bhupat Seemar, who worked for Bob Baffert for about five years.

“If he makes it to the Kentucky Derby, I don't know if I'll switch to an American trainer,” Ballis said. “I would like to. But I guess if he were to win the UAE Derby and qualify for the Derby, it would be hard to switch trainers before the Kentucky Derby.”

Ballis admits it was a pleasant surprise that he was able to pull this deal off.

“We play in the private market a lot,” he said. “We inquire about buying horses privately a lot and we have had a lot of success doing that. But the private market has become way more difficult. People are just not willing to sell. It's a product of the yearling market being so strong. You see a really good yearling and you know it's going to sell for at least $750,000 or $1 million. If people are tempted to sell a horse, they put such a crazy number on it that it doesn't make sense to buy the horse. I was very surprised we were able to buy this horse.”

He said one of the deciding factors was the horse's sire, Not This Time.

“One of the biggest lures for us is that this will be the fifth Not This Time that we have purchased,” Ballis said. “Sacred Wish won a Grade I for us. Cy Fair won the Grade I Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Believe in Magic just turned three and she is stakes-placed. Flat Out Time is graded stakes-placed on the turf and dirt. So far, Not This Time has been very good to us.”

For Six Speed, the key question going forward will be his ability to get a distance as he has yet to race beyond seven furlongs.

“It's not often that you can get a colt at this time of year that has a shot of making it to the Kentucky Derby,” Ballis said. “But the Derby is not the be-all-and-end-all. If he proves that he can't get the distance, there are plenty of important one-turn races in the U.S. for him.”

The ownership group is Ballis' Black Type Thoroughbreds, Brunetti Dugan Stables, Swinbank Stables,  and Steve Adkisson.

The post With An Eye on the Kentucky Derby, Ballis and Partners Buy Dubai-Based Not This Time Colt appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article