Goodwood, England: It was a bittersweet day for Dubai-owned horses at Goodwood yesterday as rain swamped the Sussex racecourse continuing a week of shock results.

Cloudy, wet and windy was the weather forecast for the day at the picturesque venue in the South-East of England and it more than lived up to expectations where brollies were in full use.

After trainer Mark Johnston provided Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, with a first Goodwood winner of the week, it was the turn of Yorkshire’s Richard Fahey to taste an agonising defeat when his stable flagbearer Ribchester was narrowly beaten in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes.

The race was won by 20-1 outsider Here Comes When, ridden by champion jockey Jim Crowley for trainer Andrew Balding, who was winning at the top level for the first time in his career.

Commenting on the circumstance that led to Ribchester’s defeat, Fahey said: “William [Buick] felt he was dropping away two down but he came back again. There are extreme conditions out there and he’s run a mighty race — he’s shown good heart to try and get back.

“Maybe he was a bit lonely up front and pulled up a but but we live to fight another day.

“If you can back winners today you’re a genius — that’s why bookmakers like conditions like this. They get results — and they’ve got one here.

“I’m disappointed but it was a strange race.”

Buick was hoping to make all aboard the Lockinge and Queen Anne winner before he was headed with a furlong to run. Ribchester appeared to battle back as the line loomed but could not muster enough to deny Here Comes When.

The winner is owned by Fitri Hay, the wife of Dubai-based Scottish entrepreneur Jim Hay, who is the chairman of the JMH Group, a private construction company that he operates in the emirate.

Johnston is a regular in the winner’s enclosure at Glorious Goodwood and he made his appearance on the podium after Londinium landed the mile-and-a-half event from On To Victory, with Winston C third and First Nation fourth.

Winning rider Joe Fanning said: “He’s done it very well. I was going so well turning in and he took me to the front.

“With the light weight I thought we’d kick on. In that ground you don’t want to be sitting there.

“Mark wasn’t worried about the ground and he seemed to like it.”

Johnston added: “Joe said he was always travelling really well and that he was cantering at the top of the hill.

“He was torn then. It’s a hard decision on very soft ground. On the one hand you think that maybe they won’t get home, on the other hand if you lose momentum it’s race over. He said he just kicked for home and it was very straightforward.

“He is a horse that doesn’t do well away from home. It was a big decision to bring him to Goodwood as he doesn’t like being away from his home box.

“I think he has travelled once overnight before the first day he ran and we decided we wouldn’t do it again. It was a big decision to come overnight and it has worked out well.

“He is in again on Friday so he might be getting used to Goodwood.”

Earlier 25-1 outsider Cool Sky won the Goodwood Handicap under an inspired ride from Josephine Gordon who commented: “It wasn’t easy out there. We went a nice even gallop, but you couldn’t see much and us flat jockeys wouldn’t be used to going that far!

“He did it very nicely and stayed on well.

“The ground was on the soft side of good yesterday and today the rain has really got into the ground. I’d say by the end of the day it’s going to be really hard work, and tomorrow again.”