IT was a hugely successful day for the training partnership of Simon and Ed Crisford.

In addition to three valuable placings in the day’s most valuable races with Quddwah, West Wind Blows and Meydaan, they won the two-mile Dubai Gold Cup with the mare Fairy Glen.

Joseph O’Brien had two runners in this Group 2 race, including the hot favourite Al Riffa, but neither of them landed a blow in a race which was torn apart by the front-running Sunway, who pulled his way into a long lead from an early stage.

Caballo De Mar, who had sat second, made the first bid for home, but Mickael Barzalona angled Fairy Glen up the inside and she passed the line half a length in front of that rival for her biggest victory to date.

The daughter of Farhh, bred by Godolphin, arrived off a victory in the Group 2 Balanchine over just nine furlongs last time.

Ed Crisford said: “It’s fantastic. We ran her in the Balanchine here, which was a bit short for her but since that race she’s really blossomed, done really well. She got invited to this race, she’s never run over two miles before, we were a little bit sceptical about if she’d stay the extra two furlongs - she’s won over a mile and six back in England - but I thought Mickael rode her really well, a sensible race and she finished very well.”

Simon Crisford added: “The way the race set up, it worked really well for the closers. She’s got a nice turn of foot, and she showed it tonight. She’s very honest, very brave, a good filly. She’s a dual Group 2 winner and she’ll probably go back and run next in the Middleton (a Group 2 at York).”

Sprint double

Saturday was also a red-letter day for local trainer Ahmad bin Harmash and jockey Connor Beasley, who landed a Group 1 double in the two sprint races - the Al Quoz on turf and the Golden Shaheen on dirt.

Native Approach was a rank outsider in the six-furlong Al Quoz. The five-year-old Too Darn Hot gelding was rated 97 before his previous start, but his shock success in the Group 3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint a month ago saw him re-rated at 109, and the ex-Godolphin inmate took another step forward here in dispatching a high-quality international field.

After he had run down Japanese challenger Lugal inside the final furlong to win by a neck (with favourite Lazzat in third), Beasley said: “He’s a bundle of speed, when I first sat on him at the start of the season, I said to the boss that he feels like a sprinter. He puts his heart on his sleeve every morning, he’s not easy.”

Dark Saffron was repeating his win of last year in the Golden Shaheen but it was also a bit of a surprise following a few below-par runs by the US-bred four-year-old. Defeated by a combined 50 lengths after taking his seasonal debut in November, Dark Saffron perked back up with a runner-up effort to El Nasseeb in the Group 3 Mahab Al Shimaal on Super Saturday and was back to his very best here to see off Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Bentornato by almost two lengths.

Japan winner

Wonder Dean became the fifth consecutive Japanese-trained winner of the UAE Derby, following Crown Pride (2022), Derma Sotogake (2023), Forever Young (2024) and Admire Daytona (2025). Each of them also went to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, but could not win (Forever Young went closest in finishing second) and connections of Wonder Dean also hope to run their horse in the Run for the Roses next month.

The day began with success for the American-trained Banishing in the Group 2 Godolphin Mile on dirt.

Ridden by UAE champion jockey-elect Silvestre de Sousa for Kentucky handler David Jacobson, Banishing ran down the front-running Commissioner King (Tadhg O’Shea/Bhupat Seemar) to win by over two lengths.