THIS photo finish of the $US10 million Dubai World Cup shows Gloria De Campeao (far side) winning by a short head from Mike de Kock’ Lizard’s Desire (nearest camera), but it deosn’t tell the true story as the winning distance can more aptly be described as a “nose hair” for wont of using the crude expression all racing fans are familiar with.

It was so close that jockey Kevin Shea on the fastest finisher Lizard’s Desire gave a victory salute and Ahmed Ajtebi on the third horse Allybar stuck out his hand in congratulating Shea, while the body language of jockey Tiago Pereira on Gloria De Campeao indicated that he had been beaten.

At Turffontein, the grandstand and private facilities erupted and racegoers hugged each other thinking that Lizard Island had won for South Africa, but just a minute after they crossed the line De Kock’s worried expression told a different story. He watched the action replay which showed things to be much closer than origonally thought and when the result flashed up it was celebration time for trainer Pascal Bary and his French connections.

De Kock and his team have reason to celebrate however as the stable also scored a 1-2 in the UAE Derby with Musir and Raihana and a third with Imbongi in the Dubai Duty Free, scooping in excess of R25 million between them.

Herman Brown’s Bankable ran a cracker under Shea in the Duty Free, finishing ahead of Imbongi in third.

Photo by Andrew Watkins.