ON a night to remember for Japan, horses trained there captured all three Group 2 races on the card, adding to a pair of victories at the highest level.

Crown Pride ground out a classy victory in the $1 million UAE Derby over nine and a half furlongs in the hands of Damian Lane for trainer Koichi Shintani and owner Teruya Yoshida. Summer Is Tomorrow made the running and was travelling smoothly as the field entered the homestretch, but Crown Pride loomed and the pair got set to duel. Crown Pride’s reserves of stamina told inside the final half a furlong for a victory by two and three-quarters of length.

Winning jockey Damian Lane said: “I was confident a long way out and, although he made hard work of it in the straight, ultimately he was the toughest out there. He’s a strong, tough horse and saw the distance out well.”

Bhupat Seemar, trainer of runner-up Summer Is Tomorrow, said: “This horse eats well, trains well, sleeps well; he is the perfect horse to have for any owner or trainer. The furthest he’d gone before today was seven furlongs, but he’d shown so much natural speed. At least we have a good horse for next year.”

Bathrat Leon

Returning to his very best form, much of which had deserted him during his three-year-old year, Bathrat Leon gave Japan its second success in the Group 2 Godolphin Mile. The Yoshito Yahagi-trained four-year-old entered last year’s classic season as one of the leading contenders, but failed to finish closer than ninth in six starts since taking the Group 2 New Zealand Trophy in April.

He appeared to relish the Meydan track, leading all the way at a fast pace under Ryusei Sakai to score by a length and a quarter over local Desert Wisdom, with three and a quarter lengths back to the progressive Storm Damage in third. Another Japanese runner, Soliste Thunder, filled fourth.

The winner’s jockey Ryusei Sakai said: “I think he preferred the dirt surface here more than in Japan. Mr Yahagi is one of the best trainers in the world. I have been riding for him in Japan for seven years, since I was an apprentice.”

Foolish

Stay Foolish capped a remarkable 35 minutes for Yoshito Yahagi by completing a double on the card when getting up in the dying strides to deny the strongly fancied Manobo. It looked for all the world as though the Charlie Appleby-trained Manobo would seal a second victory in the race for his trainer when picking up the running at the two-furlong marker, but Stay Foolish continued to box on at the rail under Christophe Lemaire.

Sealing a first victory in the race for Japan, Yahagi said: “After Saudi he enjoyed the atmosphere in Dubai. He was excellent, very comfortable here. I did not give any orders to the jockey. Christophe Lemaire knows what to do.

“I am not sure what we do with him next. We will go back to Japan but my dream would be to go to Royal Ascot for the Gold Cup, but I would need to speak with the owner first.”

Lemaire, the winning jockey, said: “He didn’t jump out as fast as he did in Saudi Arabia [where he beat Sonnyboyliston] but he travelled well. I was not worried about finding a gap in the straight because the horse in front of me was travelling well. Stay Foolish doesn’t have a big turn of foot but when the Godolphin horse [Manobo] struggled close to the finish my horse got a lot of confidence and moved forward again.”

Arabian dream

Racing on Dubai World Cup day got underway in thrilling fashion, with First Class winning what was effectively a match race against Kerless Del Roc in the purebred Arabian Group 1 Dubai Kahayla Classic.

Trained by Alban de Mieulle and ridden by Ronan Thomas, the five-year-old Dahess gelding seemed to have gotten away in the straight, but Kerless Del Roc, trained locally by Ahmed Al Mehairbi, was not giving up and challenged until the end in hands of Pat Cosgrave, the duo pulling well clear of the rest of the field.