Wide-Margin Maiden, International Victories Highlight Meydan Dubai Carnival Card

Rossa Ryan steered Al Nayyir to victory at Meydan, the 15/2 Dubawi gelding producing a late surge to lead inside the final furlong and hold off Sunway (FR) by a neck. Al Nayyir raced in touch with the leaders, was ridden for the closing stages and looked to have "always doing enough" as he crossed the line for trainer Tom Clover with Rossa Ryan aboard.

Sunway (FR), sent off 5/4 favorite and ridden by Silvestre De Sousa for David Menuisier, finished second by a neck, while By The Book (15/8), a Frankel gelding ridden by William Buick for Charlie Appleby, recovered from rear position to take third after making late headway on the outer over 2f out.

The meeting at Meydan on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, was staged over an eight-race Dubai Carnival card that combined dominant performances with tight finishes and featured international-bred runners that will be of interest to connections plotting Carnival targets. One of the mid-afternoon events on the card was Race 4, the Touch The Future Handicap - Turf, scheduled at 15:25 for 3YO and older; that race carried a winner’s purse listed at 171,631 AED, had 14 declared to run and was noted as having no draw advantage.

Pre-race declarations for Race 4 included Claymore (FR), a bay gelding by New Bay out of Brit Wit trained by Jane Chapple-Hyam and partnered in entries by D Tudhope; Claymore’s file shows four wins from 7f to 1m 4f on good to firm and soft ground and a latest run where he was well beaten, finishing seventh of eight behind Royal Power over 1m 4f in Abu Dhabi earlier this month. Rajeko (IRE), a Kameko colt trained by M L W Bell and ridden by Callum Shepherd on the declarations, was another international entry listed for the handicap.

Other runners visible in the race reports included Crystal Black (IRE), an 8-year-old trained by Gerard Keane and ridden by Andrew Slattery who led before weakening quickly over 2f out, and Nightwalker, a 4-year-old handled by Richard Spencer with Saffie Osborne up, who was reported "always behind." Kihavah, a 9-year-old with Pat Dobbs aboard for trainer Adrian Paul Keatley, also featured on the result snippets.

The card’s mixture of narrow margins and established international bloodlines underlines why "some entries [are] catching the eye of international trainers monitoring form ahead of bigger Carnival targets." That international flavour was visible in the placings and declarations - French-bred runners such as Al Nayyir and Sunway and Irish entries like Rajeko and By The Book provide early form lines for connections to consider ahead of the main Carnival fixtures.

Gaps remain in the available extracts for the full eight-race breakdown: the 13:30 Deepal S05 maiden referenced in the meeting notes is truncated in the provided material, and At The Races supplied pre-race declarations and prize figures for Race 4 without the finishing-line detail for that specific handicap. The results and form points from Al Nayyir, Sunway and the declared international runners give trainers and punters concrete markers to watch as the Dubai Carnival progresses toward its feature assignments.