Skysurfers wins Godolphin Mile

If there is one race at the Dubai World Cup which has been dominated by the all-conquering Godolphin Stables, it is the Godolphin Mile. Skysurfers added his name as the ninth winner of this Group 2 race last night.

While the Saeed Bin Surour-trained Skysurfers, under Lanfranco Dettori and coming from a smart win on his Meydan debut against the fancied Musir, should not have had any problem, initial doubts had been registered on the ability of E Dubai son to win from barrier 13 out of 14 runners.

With Conveyance making most of the running, American raider, I want Revenge, joined the former halfway through.

However, Dettori was superb as he brought his five-year-old mount into the battle after Mufarrh, trained by Ali Rashid Al Raihe, had hit the front.

Upstaged

Mufarrh, ridden by Richard Hills, kept battling on. However, just when the four-year-old Marju colt looked to be headed straight for the finish line, Skysurfers fired on all pistons to register a great win and improve on his third-place finish last year.

It was Godolphin's ninth success in the race, Bin Surour's eight and a third successive triumph in the Godolphin Mile.

"The draw made a couple of lengths' difference, but he's got tactical speed, so I got to where I wanted to be and then he got into a nice rhythm," said Dettori, who thrilled his fan base here with his flying dismount.

"I knew I had the best horse. I was three wide but I had cover. I was not too far behind. The second made me work but we got there in the end."

Bin Surour said: "We knew he was coming into the race in very good form. He was travelling well turning for home. The second horse was very tough, but I was always confident that he and Frankie would get there. This is his best distance and it's important that he has a break between races."

Bin Surour expressed happiness with the Skysurfers' performance so far and said they were contemplating giving him a break.

"He will travel back to Europe, but we have no concrete plans for him at the moment," Bin Surour added.

Richard Hills, who lost out in the final metres on Mufarrh, said: "I had the best trip I could have had behind the leader. But when Frankie came to me, I thought ‘uh-oh', but he [Mufarrh] still ran a great race."

Richard was followed home by his twin brother on Red Jazz, a four-year-old bay colt trained by his father Barry.

"He [Red Jazz] wasn't going quite as well as I would have hoped. On the turn, he was out-muscled by Frankie's horse. He still ran on pretty well for third. It wasn't a bad effort for his first turn of the year," Michael Hills said.

RESULTS

— With inputs from Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter and Ashley Hammond, Staff Reporter