Prince Bishop Gives Godolphin An Eighth Dubai World Cup Victory

Godolphin's eighth victory in the Group One Dubai World Cup Sponsored By Emirates Airline was provided in spectacular fashion by Prince Bishop at Meydan, UAE on Saturday, March 28.

The eight-year-old son of Dubawi, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, was slightly slow into stride under William Buick from the inside stall of one and raced in sixth of the nine runners before soon dropping back to last.

Prince Bishop, who runs in the colours of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed's son, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan, started to improve his position at the beginning of the final turn, going sixth on the outside.

He was fifth, racing on the heels of the leaders, straightening up and soon progressed to second.

Prince Bishop led with a furlong and a half remaining and went clear to put two and three quarter lengths between himself and main American challenger California Chrome, with another length and a quarter back to the third Lea. The winning time of 2m 3.24s was a new track record for 10 furlongs on dirt at Meydan.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, the founder and driving force behind Godolphin, said: "We are very happy and more happy for our guests coming here to participate in this race.

"We are all enjoying the races and this result was a pleasant surprise.

"We hoped for Prince Bishop and African Story but we thought that the Americans would win."

Saeed bin Suroor, saddling his seventh Dubai World Cup winner, commented: "It is a great result.

"I told William Buick that I knew the horse had the ability and the class to win the race and he should try and keep him handy but, as usual, Prince Bishop jumped slow.

"William is a very good jockey. He looked after the horse, never gave up and won really well.

"Some horses improve with age - they become really tough and try really hard. It was great to see Prince Bishop win again, especially for His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum.

"It's great for me, for everybody here and everybody who loves horseracing."

Prince Bishop's stable companion African Story, with James Doyle up, started well and led briefly before racing a close second to Hokko Tarumae but could find no more in the straight, finishing sixth.

Godolphin previous successes in the Dubai World Cup came through Almutawakel (1999), Dubai Millennium (2000), Street Cry (2002), Moon Ballad (2003), Electrocutionist (2006), Monterosso (2012) and African Story (2014).