Goodwood: Lady Luck gave a cold shoulder to Dubai-owned contenders at Glorious Goodwood’s much-anticipated Ladies Day, which was held under cloudy skies.

Ode To Evening, hoping to give Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, a second victory at the meeting following Yalta’s success in the Molecomb Stakes on Wednesday, was beaten a head by You’re Hired in a close battle between two lesser-fancied horses in the 15-horse Matchbook Betting Exchange Stakes.

Ridden by Godolphin’s Australian rider James McDonald, the Mark Johnston-trained Ode To Evening was shaping like a winner until he was overpowered by Martin Dwyer’s mount inside the final furlong. Only a head separated the two runners at the post.

The race is one of several fiercely competitive handicaps at the Festival while the winners of the race often go on to make their mark in Pattern races.

Winning trainer Amanda Perrett was delighted to win the contest for the second time after Art Trader in 2004 and said: “He is by Dalakhani so we were not expecting him to be particularly precocious. He was very brave as he was a little bit green throughout the race, but he got there in the end. He didn’t have much weight on his back and was lucky to get in the handicap.

“Hopefully he will improve and mature as the year goes on. I’d like to give him a break then maybe bring him back here at the end of August.”

Meanwhile, Godolphin’s Blue Point went down by a neck by Qatar-owned Mehmas in a well-contested renewal of the six-furlong contest which offers a sharp test for sprinters hoping to announce themselves as stars of the future.

Blue Point, ridden by leading Glorious Goodwod rider James Doyle (4 wins until this race) appeared to be getting the upper hand but Mehmas, under Frankie Dettori’s fierce handling, battled hard to score by a narrow margin.

Charlie Appleby remained positive despite having seen Blue Point lose his unbeaten record on his third start and said: “The winner is a nice horse who has been placed at Royal Ascot and is a July Stakes winner.

“His experience caught us out and it was the first time that he’s really been asked to go about his business. Mehmas has just outbattled us.

“He will come on for that and he’s a talented horse. We knew it was going to be a struggle for pace in the race and we wanted to go out there and keep it simple and get him into a rhythm.

“We will probably look to the Prix Morny (France) and give the Gimcrack a miss.”

The victory took Dettori’s career tally to the 2,995-winner mark.

Later in the evening, Big Orange confirmed himself as one of the best stayers in Europe when comfortably winning the Qatar Goodwood Cup — one of Britain’s oldest races have been established in 1812 — for the second year running.

The 11/4 favourite was given a front-running ride by Jamie Spencer and stayed on to win from Pallasator.

“He wears his heart on his sleeve,” said Spencer. “He’s a big strong galloper and he’s got stronger since last year and can sustain top speed for longer.

“I’m not convinced this is his track. On flat tracks he’s much better as you can really let him at it, but you have to slow down for the bends here.

“Last year he was a very good horse, but this year he is stronger. They came at him from a really early stage and he went away from them at the finish. The other thing that would help is faster ground, as it was shifting a bit under him today and he’d have been happier if it was quick.”