Emirati owners bagged two of the four Group 1 prizes on offer in the British Champions Day meeting at Ascot on Saturday.
The Revenant, in the colours of Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa, came home on top in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes while Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid’s Addeybb took the British Champion Middle Distance Stakes.
The Revenant, trained by Francis-Henri Graffard at the Al Asayl Stables in France and ridden by Pierre-Charles Boudot, produced a strong late run to win from Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed Obaid’s Roseman by a head over the 12-furlong trip.
Palace Pier in the silks of Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, who came into the race undefeated in five starts, finished three and-a-quarter lengths further back in third.
The Revenant was runner up in the race 12 months ago came into the race having won the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein at Longchamp in his only start for the season two weeks ago.
“We were very confident coming into the race today,” Boudot said of the five-year-old’s triumph.
“He loved the ground, he travelled well behind Circus Maximus and showed a good turn of foot when I asked him. His prep was good, he's courageous and he's just good.”
Frankie Dettori brought Palace Pier from the back of the field to challenge but he did not show his best, and it was found afterwards he had lost a shoe.
“I couldn't get him to change his legs which is very unlike him,” Dettori said of John Gosden’s dual Group 1 winner.
“Obviously you can't win a race like this with just three wheels.”
Addeybb, under Tom Marquand, was an impressive winner from French raider Skalleti and Aidan O’Brien’s multiple Group 1 winner Magical over the 10-furlong distance.
“He's a marvellous horse and he was really up for it today,” winning trainer William Haggas said of the six-year-old Pivotal gelding.
“He was fantastic and I'm absolutely thrilled for everyone. That was great. He was in a great position and he stays, he's tough. He loved the ground and loves it here too.”
Addeybb recorded his third Group 1 prize following two victories in Australia earlier in the year.
“What a credit to the whole team at home,” Marquand said. “He's gone to Australia and conquered down under and now he's come back and got his Group 1 here.
“He deserved that so much because he's been knocking on the door and shows he's a champion but never had his day. Now he's got it.
“He travelled like a true good horse throughout the race and when I started getting going at the bottom of the straight it's remarkable because he goes over ground as bad as you can get and makes it feel like quick ground. That's why he's so good on it.”
Earlier, Hollie Doyle, 24, became the first female jockey to win a race on British Champions Day after steering Trueshan in the British Champions Long Distance Cup.
It was another first for her just days after breaking her own record for the number of winners (117) in a year.
The remaining Group 1 prize, for the British Champion Fillies and Mares, fell to the French trainer David Menuisier’s Wonderful Tonight, ridden by William Buick.
