One Man Band leads Watson's triple charge

Published: Sun 27 Mar 2016, 8:14 PM

One Man Band, ridden by Sam Hitchcott, led a 1-2-3 finish for the Red Stables handler Doug Watson, in the 1,600m Godolphin Mile Group-2, the second race on the card.
The brilliant jockey took the second choice behind his more illustrious stables' first jockey Patrick Dobbs who opted to partner Cool Cowboy to finish third. Faulkner, ridden by Dane O'Neill was four lengths in second and the Cowboy was relegated to third across the line by just a nose.
"It is my first time to win a race on the Dubai World Cup night thanks to the hard work of the team. I hope everything will go right for my other runners," said the winning trainer Doug Watson.
Hitchcott commented: "He jumped and travelled so good. He kicked off the turn and went well. His most awkward part in a race is usually jumping from the stalls but he was brilliant today. It's great for Doug and the team."
Dane O'Neill who finished second onboard Faulkner said: "It was a messy race and I lost my position early. Halfway around the turn I had to sit and wait. I was second in the end and we stayed on well but we wouldn't have beaten the winner."
Pat Dobbs said he had a good position in second but Cool Cowboy was never travelling as well as he hoped and they were got done on the line into third."
The Godolphin representative, Marking, who was shifted from the Dubai Golden Shaheen to run in the Godolphin has finished disappointingly fourth and his jockey James Doyle said: "He's a horse with an engine but he's seemed to me immature. He missed the break. He was a step slow again, but that wasn't really the concern. We were right behind One Man Band. Once we started to turn he started to get a few scoops of kickback and he just didn't face it and I felt I was beaten two strides."
The Italian jockey Frankie Dettori rode Sloane Avenue to take sixth and said: "As we came out of the stalls his front end went forward but his back end went backwards. I think he must have put his back out because he was never really going afterwards."
Wayne Smith partnered Prayer For Relief for trainer Mike De Kock and he was sixth. The Irishman commented: "I got a few bumps down the back which kept me wider than where I wanted to be. But the horse has run sixth and that's probably as good as he is."