Bred in Ireland and trained in Great Britain, he was one of the best two-year-olds in the world in 2021 when he won four of his six races including the Somerville Tattersall Stakes in England and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf in the United States.
At stud, Dubawi has been a highly successful breeding stallion, siring major winners such as Ghaiyyath, Too Darn Hot, Al Kazeem, Makfi, Old Persian, Lucky Nine and Night of Thunder.
Ridden as on his debut by James Doyle he was in contention from the start, took the lead approaching the last quarter mile and won "comfortably" by two lengths from the Queen's colt Saga.
At Leicester Racecourse on 8 August the colt started odds-on favourite for a novice race but was beaten three quarters of a length by the previously unraced Cresta, to whom he was conceding nine pounds in weight.
[9] On 23 September Modern Games was stepped up in class to contest the Group 3 Somerville Tattersall Stakes over seven furlongs at Newmarket and started 3/1 second choice in the betting behind the French-trained Trident (runner-up in the Prix Morny).
"[11] As Appleby had predicted Modern Games was sent to the United States to contest the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf over eight furlongs at Del Mar Racetrack on 5 November, when he was joined by his stablemate Albahr (the winner of the Summer Stakes).
He produced a sustained run in the straight, overtook the Mark Casse-trained Grafton Street 100 yards from the finish and won "readily" by a length and a half from Tiz The Bomb.
"[14] After a 190-day break Modern Games on May 15 started his three-year-old campaign as the 2/1 favorite in the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains at Longchamp in Paris, France.
Modern Games made the perfect return to action with regular jockey William Buick aboard and strongly finished past his rivals in the closing yards to defeat 66/1 longshot Texas to add another Classic success.
[15] In the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby), Modern Games was made the 9/4 favorite but was no match for Vadeni finishing over 5 lengths behind the winner.
Jockey William Buick tucked Modern Games into path two in eighth position as 2021 Mile runner-up Smooth Like Strait assumed his customary role as front-runner, narrowly leading Irish-bred Pogo through splits of :23, :46.81, and 1:10.96.
As the horses entered the straight run Modern Games bore down on the leaders from the middle of the track as Pogo took over the lead from a tiring Smooth Like Strait.