Godolphin claim another win in U.S.

On a busy weekend's racing that saw the spotlight swing between Newmarket, Saratoga and Munich, Godolphin claimed another noteworthy victory for their rapidly improving American string.

A day after Street Cry was beaten in the Whitney, Polish, a three-year-old Danzig colt made all to win the seven-furlong maiden on dirt at Saratoga in what was only his second career start.

Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey established a narrow lead early on Polish, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, who held on well by a length from Regency Park in a time of 1m 23.6s.

It was Godolphin's ninth win of the season in America and helped restore the confidence following Street Cry's unexpected defeat to American speedball Left Bank in the prestigious Whitney.

However, Essence of Dubai, bidding to add another graded stakes win to Godolphin, could only manage third place in the meet's feature race on Sunday, the 39th running of the Grade 2 Jim Dandy over nine furlongs.

The race was won by the Jerry Bailey ridden Medaglia d'Oro, who burst from the starting gate and stayed out in front to win the $500,000 contest in front of a record 69,523 fans.

The race, however, was marred by a nasty spill at the top of the stretch that sent jockey Richard Migliore, who rides regularly for Dubai-based Kiaran McLaughlin at Belmont Park, to the hospital.

Essence of Dubai, ridden by John Velasquez, was bumped twice in the race, once shortly after the start and then a furlong and a half from home when the interference took place which caused the second past the post, Quest, to be disqualified.

The Godolphin challenger may have been troubled after his second bump and stayed on one paced behind the winner.

"Essence Of Dubai started off well and ran good throughout the race. We are just disappointed with the result at the end," trainer Saeed bin Suroor told the Godolphin website.

"He just got beaten by the better horse. We need to think about what happened with him here and find another race for him."

Trainer Bobby Frankel, who won his fourth stakes race at the Saratoga meeting with Medaglia d'Oro, said: "When you've got the best horse, the 'Midas Touch' continues."

Bailey has won the Jim Dandy four times, including the past three runnings with Medaglia d'Oro (2002); Scorpion (2001); Graeme Hall (2000). In 1995 he won with Composer.

Godolphin's Equerry disappointed when fourth in the Group One Grosser Dallmayr Preis-Bayerisches Zuchtrennen on turf at Munich, Germany, on Sunday.

The four-year-old St Jovite colt, who won the first five starts of his career, attempted to make all under Frankie Dettori but ran out of steam in the straight and was beaten by Pat Eddery-ridden Kaiteur.

It was Equerry's second defeat since his third place behind Hawk Wing in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown last month.

Meanwhile, Dubai Tiger, the horse named after the number golfer in the world Tiger Woods, was scheduled to make the first turf start of his career in the Grade Two National Museum of Racing Hall Of Fame Handicap over nine furlongs at Saratoga yesterday.

The three-year-old Storm Cat colt has had two victories in the U.S. this year, both over nine furlongs on dirt.