Sports | Monday 15 February, 2016 8:07 am |

Musaddas delivered a second victory for Godolphin at Meydan on Thursday, February 11 when winning the last race of the night, the Gulf News Tabloid Handicap, in good style.

The six-year-old son of Exceed And Excel had run promisingly when third on his return to racing the previous month and he built on that performance by taking the nine-furlong handicap on turf eased down by a length and a half.

Musaddas, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, was quick into stride and led early on the outside ahead of 13 rivals.

He raced a bit keenly and James Doyle was happy to soon settle him in second as Slumdogmillionaire went ahead.

Musaddas regained the advantage turning into the straight and ran on well to go clear and the jockey was able to take things easily close home, winning in 1m 50.03s.

Saeed bin Suroor commented: "It is good to have a winner after three seconds this evening.

"Musaddas always tries hard and we will have to see how he is rated after this victory before deciding where to go next."

James Doyle said: "We were happy with his first run and hadn't overdone him before that. We felt he would definitely improve for that run.

"Today was sweet - I thought it was a nice performance. He is just a horse you have to kid along a bit but he responded very well late on and he will get another furlong so that opens things up a bit.

"Musaddas is a character - you just have to keep him happy. He is getting better. I did not have to touch him and hopefully there will be a bit more improvement to come."

The jockey reflected on being unseated after the stalls opened on Godolphin's American challenger Marking (Kiaran McLaughlin) in the G3 Al Shindagha Sprint Sponsored By gulfnews.com over six furlongs on dirt. The lightly-raced four-year-old stumbled after emerging from the stalls and went left, giving James Doyle no chance of remaining on board.

He explained: "Marking stood in the gates perfectly and launched himself great as the gates opened but didn't pick his front legs up.

"There is a race for him on Super Saturday (March 5) so we will go again and hope for a bit more luck."

Godolphin had two more seconds, in addition to Pure Diamond, during the evening, withPromising Run (Saeed bin Suroor/James Doyle) beaten by impressive winner Polar River in the mile Listed UAE 1000 Guineas Sponsored By Friday on dirt, and Code Of Honour (Saeed bin Suroor/James Doyle) chasing home Liquid Mercury in the 12-furlong Gulf News Sport Handicap on turf.