INTERNATIONAL influence on the night was also provided by the Aga Khan owned Vazirabad, the four-year-old gelded son of Manduro collecting $600,000 for his victory over the Michael Bell-trained Big Orange in the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup over two miles. Christophe Soumillon put up overweight on the winner.

Trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre, welcoming France’s first winner of the race and his second on the world’s richest programme, after Dolniya in last year’s Dubai Sheema Classic, said: “He was behind, but his main quality is his big turn of foot, and we are not afraid to use it.