Robbie Dolan secured a win for Great Britain & Ireland aboard Night Breeze (11/4F) in the 12-furlong Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Challenge.
Despite racing keenly off a muddling pace, Night Breeze came with a sustained run in the straight to score by a half-length, providing Kildare-born Dolan with a first Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup success.
The front-running La Pulga (12/1) boxed on well under Rest of the World’s Hugh Bowman to finish second, just ahead of Insanity (5/1) and Joanna Mason for Great Britain & Ireland.
Dolan, who moved to Australia in 2016 and appeared on the country’s version of The Voice in 2022, hit the limelight last year when steering 90/1 chance Knight’s Choice to success in the Melbourne Cup.
Dolan said: “That’s a great buzz. What a track, what an atmosphere. This horse was just primed for this race. I dropped my whip but didn’t need it. It means everything, that’s what it’s all about. I have my family here, my little daughter’s up there somewhere, probably on her iPad, but this horse was in top shape today and was never getting beat.
“He is a pretty talented horse. I was wide for a little bit, but he was in a rhythm, so I didn’t mind that. Once he got in the slipstream turning into the bend, I clicked him up through his gears and he was pretty good.
“I could see the yellow on the inside, I couldn’t see [my teammate] Joanna out wide, but she said to me that she thought she was going to get me as we turned in, so it probably shows how good the winner was.
“This is unbelievable, what a great day. I rode for Adrian Keatley in the second and gave it a terrible ride, so it was a bit of a relief to ride a winner in the third. That’s racing, everything isn’t great all the time, but when you ride a winner, you’ve really got to enjoy it as you never know when the next one will be.”
On whether he will sing later, Dolan said: “There is always a chance…! I’ve got a weird story, they’ll make a movie about it one day. I like doing a bit of music, and music and racing go hand in hand – it is the entertainment business.”
Winning trainer Ian Williams said: “We could get a song, couldn’t we? Are we going to get him [Dolan] to sing? I was a little bit anxious when they went down the side and Night Breeze didn’t settle, but the horse has lots of quality and stayed on really well up the straight. It was a good performance from the horse and a fair performance from the jockey.”
Asked why he likes targeting team events, Williams said: “I will be perfectly honest, prize money. I am astounded that the races here don’t fill. I know it is not everybody’s cup of tea and some of the bigger owners might not like it but the prize money on offer…….everybody is moaning about prize money in the UK. They are offering £80,000 for a 10-runner race and there’s a race later on the card that’s not full. It is shameful, shameful of British racing.
“It is a shame, but we enjoy the concept, we enjoy running our horses here and the owners enjoy coming along. We have a couple of runners in the three-year-old race, they’re certainly not stars of the stable, but we want to support the Shergar Cup.”
Hugh Bowman, rider of runner-up La Pulga, said: ‘‘He went a nice gallop but was one paced. I am proud of him.’’
Joanna Mason said of the third Insanity: “It was a very stop-start race. I think he would have been suited by a truer mile and a half gallop. I have had to look for a gap and opted to go for a straight run down the outside to keep him galloping because he is a big horse. He gave me a good spin and is 5lb higher than last year, when he won. I thought I might get closer, but the winner pulled out more.’’