Godolphin´s Dubawi Dreams Dashed

Dubawi´s chance of giving the Godolphin team a dream Classic success went awry at the same time as his steering failed in yesterday´s UltimatePoker.com 2000 Guineas.

Having travelled well towards the stands side, it was just as the winner Footstepsinthesand made his challenge that Dubawi, the 11-8 favourite, lost his sense of direction and all chance.

Having seemed to be going well for most of the contest, he suddenly veered left despite Frankie Dettori desperately attempting to keep him straight.

And despite staying on again to finish fifth once he had the stands rail to guide him home, it was hardly the performance that Sheikh Mohammed and his entourage were looking for from the son of Dubai Millennium.

A downbeat Dettori attributed his mount´s performance to the underfoot conditions.

The non-arrival of forecast rain left the ground riding well on the fast side of good.

'He travelled great, he travelled like the winner,' said Dettori. 'But throughout the race he kept on changing his legs, which means he wasn´t comfortable on the very firm ground.

'When he had to stretch to go downhill he absolutely hated it. It was much too firm for him. He started to hang across the track.

'In 18 years of my career I don´t think I´ve been so nervous, but you´ve got a job to do. I went out there and did my best. It´s a shame that all the dreams we had for six months have been broken.

'It´s a long year and I´m sure he´s going to redeem himself at some stage, and let´s move on.'

With a cloud of depression seemingly hanging over connections, trainer Saeed Bin Suroor added: 'I was disappointed, but the ground was too firm for him. He didn´t really handle it and wasn´t really happy on it.

'I hope the horse is sound. He seems all right at the moment and we´ll see tomorrow how he´s taken the race.

'There are no plans for him at the moment. He´s in the Derby and when it gets a bit closer we´ll decide, but the good thing about today´s race was that he was very relaxed.'

Another great disappointment was Rob Roy, who was all but pulled up in the final furlong and trailed home stone last under Michael Kinane.

His trainer Sir Michael Stoute said: 'We´ll have to wait until we get him back to the stables and he has cooled down before we see how he is.

'We don´t know whether it was the ground. We´ll just have to check him through and see if he is sound.'

Kinane reported to the stewards that Rob Roy had 'lost his action'.

On the other hand, it was time for celebration for the connections of Rebel Rebel, who put a disappointing show at the track last time out in the Feilden Stakes well behind him to finish second at 100-1.

Simon Callaghan, son of Rebel Rebel´s trainer Neville Callaghan, said: 'He was below-par last time after his good win in the Easter Stakes. We always thought he was going to be a horse who would progress well.

'Nothing came to light after his last run and that´s his true form. He always runs as though he wants further and a mile and a quarter would be within his compass, but a true-run mile suits him well.'

Oscar Urbina, who rode the horse, added: 'Obviously he had to prove himself, but he ran like a good horse.

'He travelled all the way, but he never travelled at all last time. We couldn´t find anything wrong after that run so we had just had to have some faith today.

'I rode him to finish and it went perfectly to plan - we got a great run through.

'The way he was staying on you would think that a mile and a quarter would be no problem.

'I´m really pleased. I´ve finished fourth in the St Leger before and second on Soviet Song at Royal Ascot, but this is probably my best-ever result.'

Of third-placed Kandidate, also 100-1, Clive Brittain said: 'He ran a cracking good race. The ground was just a little bit faster than he would have liked, but it was the same for them all.

'After the Craven I thought it was amazing that they could write up the winner, the second and fourth and treat my horse like a non-runner. He´s crying out for further and he´ll probably go straight for the Derby now.'

Two furlongs out, when Brittain´s three runners - Kandidate, Party Boss and Tony James - were running first, second and third, the trainer admitted that his heart had started to beat a bit.

'It was the stuff of dreams - I wanted them to stop the clock!' he said.

Kandidate´s jockey Eddie Ahern felt at one stage that he might be going to snatch the race.

'He travelled well and saw out the mile well,' he said. 'He has a good cruising speed and I thought I was going to do it for a split second, but when I saw Kieren coming I knew he had me beaten and I was riding for second.

'I might have lost a length or two coming down the hill, but I got it back again coming back up.'

Johnny Murtagh, rider of the winner´s stablemate Oratorio, who finished fourth, said: 'He missed the start and was a bit back in the field, but he came home very well. He ran a great race - he´s a very good horse.'

? PA Sport