Dubai World Cup: Krypton Factor rallies to win Golden Shaheen

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Taking advantage of a hotly contested pace, Krypton Factor rallied four wide in the stretch and overtook Rocket Man with about 30 yards to go to win the $2 million Golden Shaheen by 2 1/4 lengths at Meydan on Saturday.

Rocket Man, who won this race last year, held second by two lengths over Lucky Nine. The Factor never fired and finished sixth, while Giant Ryan faded to fifth, beaten nine lengths, after dueling with Rocket Man.

It was the third win from five starts this year's Dubai Racing Carnival for Krypton Factor, a 4-year-old Great Britain-bred owned and trained by Fawzi Nass. He was ridden by Kieron Fallon, who said that performance was "by far" Krypton Factor's best race.[bc_video_id:247718:]

"He's just getting faster and faster every time he runs,'' Fallon said.

Krypton Factor covered the six furlongs in 1:10.79 and returned $18.80 as an 8-1 longshot.

Peter Shaw, the trainer of Rocket Man, said his horse was hurt by being pressured from Giant Ryan through a half-mile in 46.54 seconds.

"A little bit too fast, they pressured him in the beginning, but that's racing." Shaw said. "Great effort. I can't complain. He's been a gem."

Bob Baffert, at Meydan on Saturday after having a heart attack on Monday, said he was disappointed by The Factor's sixth-place finish. The horse, normally on the front end, had one horse beaten early on but did come on for sixth.

"He never got in the bridle. I thought he'd run better than that," Baffert said. "He didn't run. He was pretty quiet in the paddock. Usually he's on his toes. I knew first 100 yards we were toast."

Baffert said physically "I feel a lot better," but "I was very disappointed in this horse."