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Land Of Legends excels over favoured trip in G2 Al Fahidi Fort

Racenews

Land Of Legends maintained his perfect record over seven furlongs when leading home a Godolphin clean sweep in the G2 Al Fahidi Fort on the 2021 Dubai World Cup Carnival’s first fixture at Meydan, UAE, on Thursday, 21 January.

The five-year-old had racked up a hat-trick of wins over the distance for Saeed bin Suroor in the UK in 2019 and also ran well in a pair of mile handicaps at the 2020 Carnival.

After breaking well, Land Of Legends soon settled in third on the inside rail as stable-companion Silver Line led the 10 runners. He was angled out by Frankie Dettori in the straight and showed an excellent turn of foot to hit the front passing the furlong-pole.

The son of Iffraaj found plenty in front for a cosy three-quarter length success over D’bai (James Doyle), with the same margin back to Glorious Journey (William Buick) in third. Silver Line (Harry Bentley) came home fourth as Godolphin runners dominated the finish.

Saeed bin Suroor said: “Land Of Legends showed plenty of speed in the mornings, which pointed us to run him back over this trip, and I am sure that he will improve a lot for this race. Frankie gave him a good ride and he finished his race really well.

“It’s great to see Frankie back and winning again. We have been friends since day one when we started at Godolphin. We are still here after 27 years and it is a good feeling, for him, for us and for everyone in racing.”

Frankie Dettori added: “I had a perfect trip behind the leaders and got the split at the right time – I was actually getting there too soon, but when I asked him to quicken at the furlong marker, he gave me everything he had. It was a good effort and everything fell right – I had a good draw and managed to get him into a nice rhythm.

“I am pleased for Saeed and the team, it’s nice to be back.”