Dubai: Jockeys championship front-runner Silvestre de Sousa — the new ambassador to Dubai’s Al Basti Equiworld — cemented his position when delivering an absolute masterclass aboard 50-1 outsider Arabian Queen to lower the colours of the unbeaten favourite Golden Horn in the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes at York on Wednesday.

The Brazilian, who has pulled clear of rivals Paul Hanagan and William Buick in the race for this season’s British title, was at the top of his game aboard the winner, who scored by a neck from the Epsom Derby hero ridden by Frankie Dettori.

The Grey Gatsby finished third in a race that was robbed of some glamour after English 2,000 Guineas (G1) victor Gleneagles was withdrawn before the start of the £800,000 contest due to the prevailing soft ground.

De Sousa was full of praise for the David Elsworth-trained Arabian Queen, who was bouncing back from a third place effort in the Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.

“She’s not an easy filly to deal with, she can be a bit of a madam at home,” he told Channel 4 Racing. “She has her own ideas about the game, but is obviously very talented. I had a clear run, picked the pacemaker up two furlongs out and I always felt I had a bit left.

“I couldn’t say I was confident coming here — she was 50-1 — but she had been third in a Group One on her last run, she’s bred to get further and ran right to the line.”

Only this week, De Sousa became the latest top international rider to join a growing portfolio of brand ambassadors for Al Basti Equiworld, the UAE’s leading supplier of horse feeds and supplements.

He looks hard to beat in the race for the jockeys’ championship. Following Wednesday’s big race win, De Sousa took his tally to 93 wins for the season, 27 clear of Hanagan, who leads Buick by one.

Earlier, Storm The Stars, owned by Shaikh Juma Dalmook Al Maktoum, survived a Stewards enquiry to win the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes.

Placed in both the English and Irish Derbies, the son of the great Sea The Stars now heads to the Doncaster St Leger with strong claims.

Although he appeared to drift towards runner-up Bondi Beach in the closing stages of the race, the Stewards did not think it was significant enough and they let the placings remain unaltered.

Winning rider Pat Cosgrave said: “I popped out to make the running, then the other horse [Medrano] took me on so I let him get on with it. I just did my own thing. To be fair, he’s tough and has battled for it, but he wanted it more than the second horse.

“He’s very excitable, that’s why he’s run so many times. You can’t keep on top of him at home. He just wants to race. I think there will be improvement from today.”

Derby-winning handler William Haggas said: “He’s tough. I’m delighted with my horse. He’s a very tough, hardy resilient horse and they often lug to the left on this track as the bend turns into the left — it’s like Windsor in that respect.

“He’s tough and hardy, has done extremely well and bounced back very well so that should put him spot on [for the St Leger], not so much physically as mentally. He got a bit sweaty today, he’s been off for a bit, but he’s just a hard horse.”