Champion jockey William Buick rides Rebel’s Romance to victory in £2.7m Dubai Sheema Classic… as Sir Alex Ferguson watches his star horse Spirit Dancer finish second last

Champion jockey William Buick executed perfect tactics in the 25-1 shot of Rebel’s Romance to take the £2.7 million winner’s prize in the Dubai Sheema Classic, giving trainer Charlie Appleby’s team a big early boost of the Flat season.

Newmarket-based Appleby was on a mission to win the biggest turf race at the Dubai World Cup with a horse running in the colors of Chief Sheik Mohammed, ruler of Dubai.

But, with his stable in a transitional stage and lacking strength in depth, in Rebel’s Romance Appleby now has a standard bearer to run around the world.

Buick, however, was probably the decisive factor in the success. He followed close behind Point Lonsdale, trained by Aidan O’Brien, in a tactical affair where few were in range to even throw a punch.

Isolated at the back under Ryan Moore was O’Brien’s 2023 English and Irish Derby winner Auguste Rodin, who has high expectations placed on him this season.

His chance evaporated before the home turn but, disappointingly, he faded in the final meters instead of passing horses that should be his inferiors.

Just ahead of him in 11th place was Sir Alex Ferguson’s Spirit Dancer, whose jockey Oisin Orr admitted: “I got too far behind and followed the wrong horses.”

Rebel’s Romance came into the Sheema Classic winning group one four times. But Appleby felt he had lost confidence when he cut his heels while he was competing in the United States last summer.

So the trainer lowered his sights and won at Kempton in December on the all-weather track to get him back into his stride.

Appleby only ran four on the night, but also featured Star of Mystery, ridden by Frankie Dettori, who was second to California Spangle in the Al Quoz Sprint.

He said: ‘It was our last roll of the dice and its price shows the depth of the race. He had a bumpy road last year, but we were confident we would get him back to where we wanted.”

O’Brien said: “Actually, it was a bit irrelevant.” The race ran in two halves, so we’ll just put a line between them.’

The pair did not go home empty-handed and won the two-mile Dubai Gold Cup with the Tower of London.

Lord North, ridden by Dettori, failed in his bid to become the first horse to win four times on World Cup night. The John and Thady Gosden-trained gelding finished eighth behind the French-trained Facteur Cheval in the Dubai Turf.

The $12 million World Cup main turned into an eight-and-a-half-length rout for Laurel River for UAE-based trainer Bhupat Seemar and his Irish jockey Tadhg O’Shea.

The duo also won the Golden Shaheen with Tuz on a night they and their bank managers will never forget.

Gosden said: ‘Nashwa has come out of an impossible draw very well. You have to use your horse to get a position. She took out the first two but it cost her. She has handled the entire event well.

‘The other old man probably found him too lively. He’s always been lucky to get a bit of a cut here. With the winds and sun, the terrain is very fast. He would appreciate a little good to mild at his age. It will be cooled down and then there will be plenty of places to look to run. He has already made history here.

Dettori said: “It had a great spot and showed up on the straight, but at the end it didn’t have the gears it had in the past.” We’re all getting old, right?

‘I still don’t have a participation in the Kentucky Derby, but all the tests are already there. It’s the Santa Anita Derby next week. There’s a lot going on, don’t worry.