Glory for French in World Cup

French raider Gloria De Campeao came out on top by the narrowest of margins as he made it third time lucky in the Dubai World Cup at Meydan.

Trained by Pascal Bary in Chantilly, the seven-year-old had finished a well-beaten eighth behind Curlin in 2008 before finding only emphatic winner Well Armed too strong at Nad Al Sheba 12 months ago.

Having been beaten in a Grade Two at Meydan at the start of the month, he appeared up against it tackling a field full of Group One winners, and was sent off at 16-1 in the hands of Tiago Pereira.

Sent straight to the front from the outset, Gloria De Campeao burned off his rivals one by one from the turn for home.

Lizard's Desire, trained by South African handler Mike De Kock, desperately tried to mow him down late on and joined him on the line, but a photo revealed he was a nose behind when it mattered.

Bary said: "To win a race like that with a horse like this is great.

"He's such a wonderful horse, he always tries.

"The other horse finished so fast I wasn't sure if we had won.

"When he comes to Dubai he is a different horse."

Owner Stefan Friborg said: "I don't have words for it, it was fantastic.

"He rode it as planned, from the front.

"He is very tough, he enjoys to run and fight and he never gives up."

Henry Cecil's Twice Over travelled kindly but having raced widest of all for much of the contest, he could not pick up in the closing stages.

Gitano Hernando, trained by Newmarket-based Italian Marco Botti, was never too far away under Kieren Fallon but encountered traffic problems in the straight before running on strongly at the death.

Godolphin's Allybar was third, with Gio Ponti fourth, but Vision D'Etat never threatened to land a blow.

A major doubt only 24 hours beforehand, he passed veterinary tests on the morning of the race but was ultimately well beaten.

Bary continued: "I wasn't sure whether we had won and I wanted to wait and see the photograph, but the owners were sure the race was ours.

"He came here last year and ran a big race to be second. He then went to Singapore and won, and we brought him back to Dubai, where he won first time out.

"He was caught on the line the last time he ran and had no chance to respond, but he's run to the post today.

"Every day he's a happy horse and wants to go to work and he does not want to be beaten. I've trained him for three years now and this is a dream."

Pereira added: "Passing the post I thought we'd won, but the other jockey started celebrating, so I kept quiet and waited for the photo.

"I kept him going for the last 300 metres and he kicked on to give me the best win of my life."

Lizard's Desire's jockey Kevin Shea was understandably disappointed having gone down by such a narrow margin.

He said: "It's a very bitter pill to swallow, but I've got to swallow it.

"When I looked up it was just after the line and I was in front and I thought I'd got it.

"It's hard to take. The horse gave me everything but the winner got it soft up front."

The Godolphin team were represented by third home Allybar and fifth home Mastery, and racing manager Simon Crisford was pleased with the pair of them.

"That was fantastic and I'm delighted with the result," he said.

"I'm happy with both of ours. They were in the right position given there was no pace and have run beautifully."

Gio Ponti's jockey Ramon Dominguez said: "He's run a great race and was not beaten far."

Tom Queally, rider of the 10th-placed Twice Over, said: "He's hung badly right throughout and was never really travelling."

Fallon admitted his mount Gitano Hernando did not get the breaks after passing the post in sixth, adding: "We could have done with a better pace.

"I got blocked up and didn't have much room and with more of a pace the field would have spread out more, which would have helped."

The Brian Meehan-trained Crowded House was the final British contender and he came home a well-beaten ninth, having run on from the rear late on.