Sheikh's favourite survives surgery

Dubai Millennium, the brilliant Godolphin colourbearer who captivated all who saw him with his deeds on the track, has won his latest and most important battle. The four-year-old yesterday came through five and a half hours of surgery to repair the hind leg broken on the Newmarket gallops the previous morning, a career-ending injury. But he is not out of the woods yet; the next 48 hours will be crucial if the colt is to be saved for stud duties.

Dubai Millennium, the brilliant Godolphin colourbearer who captivated all who saw him with his deeds on the track, has won his latest and most important battle. The four-year-old yesterday came through five and a half hours of surgery to repair the hind leg broken on the Newmarket gallops the previous morning, a career-ending injury. But he is not out of the woods yet; the next 48 hours will be crucial if the colt is to be saved for stud duties.

His owner, Sheikh Mohammed, was present throughout the operation, choosing to stay by the side of his stricken favourite rather than make the trip to Deauville to watch Frankie Dettori ride Lend A Hand in the Prix Maurice de Gheest. It was the jockey's first mount in the blue Godolphin silks since breaking a leg in the light aircraft crash two months ago that claimed the life of the pilot but, after winning on his two comeback rides at Newmarket on Saturday, he was neither able to make it three out of three nor bring some cheer to the Dubai-based team, being beaten a neck by the Richard Hannon-trained Bold Edge in the Group One sprint.

Dubai Millennium suffered a serious injury, a condylar fracture of his right-hind cannon, the long bone between hock and ankle, with displacement of a sizeable splinter of bone. Three screws have been inserted in a procedure carried out by Dr Dan Hawkins, chief surgeon at the Sheikh's Dubai Equine Hospital, who flew to Newmarket overnight.

The massive bay son of Seeking The Gold, who earned some £2,750,000 on the racecourse and is worth a sheikh's ransom as a potential stallion, is recovering at the state-of-the-art veterinary hospital of Rossdale and Partners. He is the Newmarket practice's most famous patient since Desert Orchid survived a bout of colic there.

Sheikh Mohammed did not leave the premises until the colt was safely, if groggily, back on his feet late yesterday afternoon. The Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford said: "Everything was as straightforward as this sort of thing can be. But the situation is still serious and will be monitored minute by minute."

General anaesthesia and limb surgery carry far more risks for a horse than a human, mainly due to the animal's huge size and weight, more than half a ton in the heavy-topped Dubai Millennium's case. The temperament of the individual is paramount; Mill Reef, for instance, was a model, calm patient after the well-documented injury that ended his career in the early Seventies and went on to become a top stallion. Less happily, the great American filly Ruffian, who broke an ankle in a match race with the Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure in 1975 and underwent surgery, reacted badly to the anaesthetic and then smashed her leg beyond repair as she thrashed and struggled to regain consciousness.

Guests of a superstitious frame of mind at last month's Dalham Hall Stud stallion parade wondered if the attachment of a brass plate bearing Dubai Millennium's name to an empty, straw-filled stable might have been tempting fate. Sadly for those who enjoy seeing a good horse run the box will be occupied sooner than anticipated, but at least - assuming all goes well - it will be filled.

Dubai Millennium, beaten only once in 10 runs, leaves racegoers with some outstanding memories, notably his record-breaking triumph in the Dubai World Cup in March, the night he fulfilled his eponymous destiny, and his eight-length demolition of his rivals in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.

But for all his brilliance on the track, his only currency now is his genes. In him, the genetic package came together in near-perfection, for in looks and deeds is is arguably the beau ideal of a racehorse, and the frustrating thing is that, having improved from three to four, he may not have reached the height of his athletic powers.

But although he is superbly-bred - his sire is a son of the peerless American stallion Mr Prospector and his dam is a daughter of the best broodmare of the modern era, Fall Aspen - and a superlative runner, the only guarantee that breeders who will patronise his services will have is that the offspring of their mare will be an equine.

Of course there is more likelihood of breeding a champion from a good horse than a bad one, but the story is that Sheikh Mohammed has filled the ranks of the Dubai Mounted Police with legions of blue-blooded, disappointing - and now gelded - sons of nine-times champion sire Sadler's Wells.

Altogether, the Godolphin team have had a torrid season by its own high standards, with only Dubai Millennium, Bachir, Kayf Tara, Aljabr and Mutafaweq having scored in Group One races.

Bold Edge, the crossbar at Deauville, led home a clean sweep for British-based raiders in the six and a half furlong sprint, the first top-level contest of the French summer seaside season, with Gorse (Henry Candy) and Hot Tin Roof (Tim Easterby) third and fourth.

Lend A Hand, trying to win the £50,000 prize for the second year running for Godolphin, following Diktat's win 12 months ago, looked like achieving it as he moved to challenge Bold Edge over a furlong out. But Dane O'Neill, on the leader, had kept a little in reserve and always had the best of the battle to the line, getting revenge for three previous defeats by Lend A Hand.

Among the disappointments were the local filly Bluemamba, the French 1,000 Guineas winner, who could finish only eighth and the Japanese challenger, Dojima Mutaeki, who was last of the 11 starters.