Dubai Turf (Group 1)

EMPTY stands could not stop Frankie Dettori from making his traditional flying dismount after the John and Thady Gosden-trained Lord North lifted the $4m million Group 1 Dubai Turf.

Bred by Godolphin in Ireland, the five-year-old son of Dubawi was covered up by Dettori, one off the rail towards the back of the field.

Coming out of the final bend, he kicked on and Lord North responded immediately, flying home to beat Japanese raider Vin De Garde by three lengths, while the Marco Botti-trained Felix and Oisin Murphy finished an excellent third.

It was an impressive seasonal reappearance by last summer’s Royal Ascot Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner who is owned by HH Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed Racing, and Thady Gosden said: “We were always hoping he would run well as he was in brilliant form out here.

“But he definitely put that race to bed very well from pretty far back. We will take him home now and then maybe give him a break and target the race he won last year at Ascot.”

Impressed

Dettori, whose only previous success in the race was with Tamayaz in 1997, was equally impressed with Lord North, and said: “It was a nice pace. I had plenty of horse and I know he stays really well. So I kicked early and he flew. I didn’t do much else after that, he did the rest.

“He was a handful in the early days, so he got gelded and he is much more focussed now. He is a horse for all the good races this year. I’m sure the Gosdens will have a plan.”

Mickael Barzalona was praiseworthy of the runner-up, Vin De Garde. He commented: “I had no orders at all. He [trainer Hideaki Fujiwara] just asked me to ride my horse where he was happy and suitable. My horse ran a very good race.

“I just got beaten by a horse that was better on the day; he was a Group 1 winner in Europe.”