MIKE de  Kock and his Dubai team’s persistence with Anaerobio (ARG) paid off after 11 attempts when the five-year-old entire by Catcher In The Rye scored impressively at Meydan on Thursday, winning a handicap over 1400m on turf, worth $US175,000.

Jockey Pat Cosgrave must have felt the wind at his back when he shook the reins 400m out. Anaerobio sailed on by the pacesetter and left his rivals behind, blessing the Irishman, Mike and owner Mohammed Khaleel with peace and plenty.

The winning margin was 2.50-lengths, but the runner-up was flattered and Cosgrave said:  “He has run so many good races in defeat and really deserved to finally win one.”

Mike thanked his assistants and owner  Mohammed Khaleel  for their patience and commented: “We tried everything, we thought Anaerobio would stay all day since he won a Group 1 over 2000m in Argentina, but here in Dubai he never looked like a stayer, we were barking up the wrong tree with him.

A happy win for Anaerobio – Mike de Kock and Mohammed  Khaleel lead in their charge. Jockey Pat Cosgrave is obscured behind a tuft of South American  mane, but those Irish eyes are smiling too. (Andrew Watkins).

“Anaerobio also had his problems and had to spend some time recovering on Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s farm, so this is a very happy win for all of us.  It looks like 1400m is his best trip now, a mile tops.”

Khaleel, the Sheikh’s second-in-command, has enjoyed a good run himself recently with wins by Star  Empire in Dubai and Al Saayef in South Africa.

Earlier, the stable’s highly-rated filly Emotif failed to live up to expectations in the UAE Oaks, beaten eight lengths into fifth by Godolphin’s Shuruq.

Mike said: “We’re going to give Emotif another run in next week’s Al Bastakiya over 1900m on the all-weather and re-assess  things after that. We may have to bring her back to turf, it’s possible that she doesn’t like the Tapeta.

“In fairness though, I have to reiterate that Emotif is a month behind all our other runners in Dubai due to her illness when she arrived here. She was knocking  on death’s door, we almost lost her, she spent two weeks in hospital and it’s showing.  She will obviously need more time than we thought to come back to her own, don’t write her off.”