Dubai Turf (Group 1)

OMBUDSMAN justified long odds-on to win the nine-furlong Dubai Turf on the World Cup card at Meydan.

An important winner for Godolphin and Sheikh Mohammed at what was the the 30th World Cup fixture, Ombudsman was a class above his 10 opponents here and was not fully extended to win by two lengths from Quddwah and the rank outsider Andreas Vesalius.

Trainer John Gosden, now a joint licence holder with son Thady, said: “It’s a great sense of relief. It’s not easy coming out of a winter in England, bringing a horse in ready to run. I think he’ll come on for the race, he was probably coming in here at 90%, but it was enough to get the job done.

“We’ll see how he gets on the rest of the year, he’ll go to Royal Ascot now for the Prince Of Wales and from there we’ll know where we go.”

Winning rider, William Buick said: “It was how we hoped it would happen, very smooth and, look, he’s going to have a very exciting year ahead.”

A five-year-old by Night Of Thunder, Ombudsman was bred in Nenagh by James Hanly.

Ed Crisford said of Quddwah: “This sort of style of racing he really enjoys, being tucked in and not an end-to-end gallop. He had a dream run up the rail, finished well and Ombudsman is obviously a fantastic horse, as he showed last year.

“He’s a nice horse that can be winning some good races. I think he can win a Group 1 - he’s been knocking on the door. He just needs the right sort of track and the right style of racing and I think he can do it.”