Alexandros romps in Al Rashidiya

Alexandros ran away from an evenly matched field at Meydan on Thursday night, drawing clear to take the Group 3, $200,000, Al Rashidiya by 3 1/2 lengths from Crowded House. His owner, Godolphin, thus won the first race run on the Meydan turf course after Alexandros traveled the 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.74 on good to firm ground.

Once jockey Frankie Dettori found a gap for Alexandros in midstretch, the race was all but over. A two-time handicap winner on the Nad Al Sheba turf last winter, Alexandros, a 5-year-old British-bred son of Kingmambo, is being pointed at the Dubai Duty Free, in which he finished third last year.

Tam Lin finished third, a half-length behind runner-up Crowded House.

Mike de Kock unveiled Musir, a smart-looking Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old, in the seven-furlong UAE 2000 Guineas Trial. Bred in Australia, Musir was the champion 2-year-old in South Africa, winning the seven-furlong Group 1 Golden Horseshoe by 3 1/2 lengths on July 4. In his first start on a synthetic track Thursday night, he spotted the Godolphin-owned Frozen Power 16 pounds but was never under pressure to hold off the neck runner-up thanks to a cool ride from Christophe Soumillon.

Thor's Echo, winner of the Breeders' Cup Sprint in 2006 and second in the Dubai Golden Shaheen a year later, returned to the races for the first time since July 2008 for new trainer Sateesh Seemar in a six-furlong handicap on the Tapeta surface. Second most of the way, he faded late but held on for third, 2 1/4 lengths behind Godolphin's victorious Global City.

* Twice Over, second favorite behind Gio Ponti for the Dubai World Cup, had his first work of the year, a gallop on the Al Bahathri Polytrack training course at Newmarket on Thursday. Third in the Breeders' Cup Classic, he will run in the World Cup without benefit of a prep race.

Dar Re Mi, the disqualified winner of the Prix Vermeille and third in the Breeders' Cup Turf, will run in the Dubai Sheema Classic, trainer John Gosden said on Thursday.