Bankable wins Al Fahidi Fort; Justenuffhumor sixth

Bankable and jockey Ryan Moore outdueled Imbongi and his rider, Christophe Soumillon, for a game nose victory in the $250,000, Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort at Meydan on Friday night, performances that could ultimately land both horses in the Dubai Duty Free.

It was just a head back to third to outsider Ibn Battuta, but Justenuffhumor, third in the Breeders' Cup Mile, could only manage only sixth in his first start of the season. The Godolphin-owned favorite, Justenuffhumor finished 4 1/4 lengths behind Bankable after being blocked through most of the stretch. The winning time for the mile on a good-to-firm turf course was 1:38.50.

Trained by South African Herman Brown, Bankable came from last to first for the score in his first outing since Sept. 16, when won the listed one-mile Fortune Stakes at Sandown Park when trained by Gary Moore. An Irish-bred son of Medicean, he had finished fifth in last year's Dubai Duty Free when under the tutelage of Brown's countryman Mike de Kock. A Group 2 winner in his native South Africa and a Group 3 winner last June at Newmarket, Imbongi was coming off a nice second-place finish to Barbecue Eddie in a second-furlong allowance on Feb. 5 in his first try on a synthetic surface.

* Earlier, Eagle Mountain, runner-up in the 2008 Breeders' Cup Turf, failed in his seasonal debut, going down by 3 1/4 lengths to the unheralded Skysurfers in a one-mile synthetic allowance. The loss came even though Eagle Mountain was getting six pounds from the winner despite being rated 25 pounds higher in the official handicap ratings. Eagle Mountain, however, is still being aimed at the Dubai World Cup by his trainer, de Kock.