Dettori doubles up with Poll

Frankie Dettori completed a World Cup night double when Opinion Poll took the rearranged Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan over four and a half hours after its scheduled start.

The contest should have been run earlier on the card, but was stopped mid-race after Godolphin's Fox Hunt broke a leg after appearing to clip heels with just over a circuit to run. He was put down. The rescheduled contest was not without incident either, as both Bronze Cannon and Grand Vent were pulled up.

Dettori was following up his win on African Story in the Godolphin Mile, and the victory also rounded off a treble for the Godolphin team.

The jockey kicked on early in the straight on the Mahmood Al Zarooni-trained hot favourite and had enough in hand to hold the late challenges of Joshua Tree and Zanzamar, with the latter the final ride of the retiring Richard Hills.

Dettori told At The Races: "It's a shame we lost Fox Hunt, but it's been a fantastic night of racing. I'm very proud for the boss Sheikh Mohammed and Godolphin. They deserve all the success they get and I'm very pleased to be part of the team."

He had made the best possible start to the meeting with an easy victory on African Story, sending Saeed bin Suroor's five-year-old into the lead two furlongs out after Red Jazz had made the running.

African Story quickly put the race to bed as he swept to a cosy victory. Viscount Nelson stayed on well to take second, four lengths behind the winner, while Red Jazz plugged on for third place, a further length and three-quarters away.

Dettori said: "I had a beautiful trip round, I didn't have to do much, just make sure he had plenty of room in the straight. It was push-button ride, he was always travelling so incredibly well. That takes a bit of pressure off the night, and so now I can enjoy it even more."

Bin Suroor added: "This horse is doing well. After his first race all he has done is improve. We'll keep options open, but the Hong Kong race (Champions Mile) is a possibility."

Charlie Hills said of Red Jazz, who was occupying third place for the second year running: "He has run a great race, coming back from a long lay-off, and he possibly got a little bit tired at the end. I would think his campaign will be over seven furlongs or a mile, and we might look at the Champions Mile in Hong Kong."