Sheikh Hamdan's Bethrah got up in the final strides to win the Etihad Airways Irish 1,000 Guineas in a blanket finish at the Curragh. The Marju filly hit overdrive inside the final furlong for Pat Smullen, the jockey, and sneaked up a tiny gap on the rail. Godolphin horse Anna Salai, under Ahmed Ajtebi, looked to be going best with two furlongs to run but lost by a head. Bethrah's victory gave Dermot Weld, the trainer, his fourth Irish 1,000 Guineas after Prince's Polly (1982), Trusted Partner (1988) and Nightime (2006).
Weld said: "You can never be confident but I knew she would represent us very well. She is tough and very genuine and has progressed over the winter. Godolphin's Cutlass Bay could not replicate Anna Salai's performance and finished fifth in the Tattersalls Gold Cup . But the Dubai-based racing operation did have success yesterday, as Kite Wood made all the running to win the Group Two Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at Longchamp, France, and Air Trooper won the Prix L'Arve there.
Saeed bin Suroor, Kite Wood's trainer, said: "He has run a huge race on his reappearance. "I am very pleased with him and he is in the Gold Cup at Ascot which will be one of the options we now consider." Elsewhere, Frozen Power is the sole Godolphin representative in the Mehl Mulhens-Rennen - the German 2,000 Guineas - at Cologne today. The winner of a listed race at Deauville for Saeed bin Suroor last season, he showed a solid level of form at the Dubai Carnival, culminating in a fifth-placed finish in the UAE Derby.
Frozen Power was in the care of Mahmood al Zarooni for his final start and that is who he will be representing in the Classic, with Frankie Dettori in the saddle. "He looks fit and well and I think he goes to Germany with a good chance," Al Zarooni told www.godolphin.com. * Agencies
