emirates7 - Stay Foolish won the $1,000,000 Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup sponsored by Al Tayer Motors.

Say Foolish capped a remarkable 35 minutes for Japanese trainer Yoshito Yahagi by completing a double on the card when getting up in the dying strides to deny the strongly fancied Manobo.

After a strong pace and the early drama of Emperor Of The Sun running out on the approach to the back straight, the race soon became about the closers. It looked for all the world as though the Charlie Appleby-trained Manobo would seal a second victory in the race for his trainer when picking up the running at the two-furlong marker, but Stay Foolish continued to box on at the rail under Christophe Lemaire.

And the Far East raider would not be denied, snatching victory at the winning line to seal a first victory in the race for Japan - and the second winner of the evening for the nation. Completing the places was the local runner Al Madhar for the Musabbeh Al Mheiri team.

Yahagi said: "After Saudi he enjoyed the atmosphere in Dubai, he was excellent, very comfortable here. He loves Dubai I think.

"I did not give any orders to the jockey. Christophe Lemaire knows what to do. I am not sure what we do with him next. We will go back to Japan but my dream would be to go to Royal Ascot for the Gold Cup but I would need to speak with the owner first."

Christophe Lemaire, winning jockey, said: "He didn’t jump out as fast as he did in Saudi Arabia but he travelled well. I was not worried about finding a gap in the straight because the horse in front of me was travelling well.

"When I saw Manobo come alongside me powerfully, I thought we were done. Stay Foolish doesn’t have a big turn of foot but when the Godolphin horse struggled close to the finish my horse got a lot of confidence and moved forward again. Obviously Manobo was the one to beat and he also had a 2kg advantage."

On his exceptional run of success in the Middle East, he added: "I won't say I am used to it because every race is important and that is the past. You have to look forward to the future and I am focused on my next race."