Stay Foolish landed another major turf success for Japanese racing when denying hotly-fancied Manobo in the Group Two Dubai Gold Cup Sponsored By Al Tayer Motors at Meydan.
Unbeaten Charlie Appleby runner Manobo was sent off the 4/11 favourite in the hands of William Buick but he pulled for his head early on behind horses and spent too much energy through the early stages.
That eventually took its toll as despite coming through in the straight to take the lead from front-running fellow Godolphin representative Volcanic Sky (Saeed bin Suroor), he was ultimately collared by the Yoshito Yahagi-trained Stay Foolish, who battled well up the inside of the giant Manobo.
Stay Foolish, ridden by veteran French jockey Christophe Lemaire, scored at 4/1 by a narrow margin and was adding to his Group Three triumph at Riyadh's big meeting late last month. Third went to Al Madhar at 66/1.
“Excellent – unbelievable,” said the trainer.
“He’s enjoyed the atmosphere in his training in Dubai and my aim is the Gold Cup at Ascot.”
Lemaire said: “He didn’t break as fast as he did in Saudi so I was behind a good horse but happy to be on the inside.
“He doesn’t have a big turn of foot and I thought the potatoes were done, but in the end he outstayed them. I think he could run in any Group One, anywhere.”
Appleby said of Manobo: “Stepping up from a mile and a half I had it in the back of my mind that it could be the end of the Richter Scale, but considering what he did in the first half of the race he did well to run as well as he did.”
Bathrat Leon was a shock winner of the Nakheel-sponsored Godolphin Mile – dominating from the front under Yahagi’s apprentice Ryusei Sakai.
“I found it easy to get on the lead and he travelled very well. He had good form on turf in Japan, but he loved Meydan,” said the winning rider.
“This is my dream come true. I was not confident but not surprised. He’s a good horse.”
Yahagi had earlier won the Godolphin Mile Sponsored By Nakheel, striking lucky with 80/1 chance Bathrat Leon who beat Desert Wisdom (16/1) and the Bin Suroor-trained Storm Damage (4/1).
There was further success for Japan in the UAE Derby, with Koichi Shintani’s Crown Pride (11/1) striking gold in the hands of Damian Lane.
Crown Pride carries the colours of Teruya Yoshida, who said: “He’s nominated for the Kentucky Derby and I am not against going.
“Things have changed this last five and 10 years. Japan’s trainers have improved and our owners are big investors.”
The Dubai Golden Shaheen went to veteran sprinter Switzerland (22/1), trained by Bhupat Seemar and ridden by the UAE’s all-time leading jockey Tadhg O’Shea.
O’Shea said: “From the off connections planned three races. He won the race here on New Year’s Day when he was electric and then ran in Saudi Arabia (finished sixth).
“Connections have kept his races spaced out as he needs to be fresh but confident. Touch wood, he’s never moved as well. I’ve been very fortunate to win nine championships out here, but it’s a big job to get the first Group One off your bucket list.”
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