Godolphin's Rebel's Romance (28/1) won the Longines Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan, a race in which few got involved.
Anticipation was high heading into a quality renewal of the mile and a half Group 1 but the race didn't quite deliver as the big names failed to lay a glove on Rebel's Romance.
Shahryar broke well from stall 2 but Cristian Demuro was content to let Point Lonsdale, hard ridden to get to the front, up his inside and into the lead.
Wayne Lordan was joined there by Rebel's Romance and the two runners were allowed to dictate the pace with Point Lonsdale's stablemate and race favourite Auguste Rodin held-up in rear.
The front two went through the gears heading into the home turn and Rebel's Romance quickened clear of his fellow front-runner but the challenges from the closers never materialised with the son of Dubawi winning unchallenged to the delight of the local crowd.
Shahryar held on for second ahead of his better fancied compatriot Liberty Island with Justin Palace fourth. Auguste Rodin was last.
Winning trainer Charlie Appleby said: "He's a four-time Group One winner and coming into the race we were a 20/1 shot that just shows the strength and depth of this race tonight.
"But William (Buick) had a plan, he said to me 'I've got a plan' and I said 'don't tell me because if you mess it up I won't be able to give you a roasting!'
"We were confident that the right way was to go forward on him. I was very confident down the back there that William was in the right spot as the fractions there just weren't that quick and William knows this track so well; he's done all the right movements off that far turn there and got a nice lead from the rest of them.
"It's great but most importantly I'm delighted for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and Team Godolphin, he's a homebred by Dubawi. What more can I say?"
Buick added: "He showed in Qatar what a versatile horse he is. His best form has always been held-up, so Qatar I tried something new and Charlie was very keen today to have similar tactics and slipstream the leader; he's a very good horse on his day and he showed that today.
"I'm absolutely delighted. He's a great horse and I'm so happy he's back to his best.
"His Highness wants to see the best horses come to Dubai and the best horses are here. These races are incredibly hard to win so of course I'm incredibly happy. Great for the team, great for everybody and it's great to be here and to ride a winner is fantastic."
'It was just one of them'
Aidan O’Brien was keen to write off Auguste Rodin’s below-par effort, stating: “It was a bit of a non-event really. The race just developed into halves so we just want to put a line through the race really.
“Ryan (Moore) just said he felt he wasn’t happy where he was or anything. They just never activated at all so it was a bit of a non-event. It was just one of them where it didn’t happen.”
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