Mubarak Khalifa bin Shafya rode Comes The Dawn to a fine victory in the 140-km third leg of the Omega-sponsored Triple Crown Endurance ride here at the Dubai Endurance City yesterday.

Battling tough weather conditions due to the heat, Bin Shafya, a former national champion finished exactly 10 minutes ahead of Majed Khalfan Al Jahouri, another consistent performer with Jaber Bittar of Al Reef Stables in third place.

Godolphin yesterday defended their decision of not sending a team to contest the Triple Crown series in America by stressing that they will not 'invent' a horse for a race.

Speaking to journalists during the Godolphin 'open morning' at their training base in Al Quoz Racing Manager Simon Crisford said: "We haven't made any entries because the key horses that we've had, Ruler's Court and Rosberg, unfortunately had some injuries that require some treatment.

"Those were the horses that would have been genuine contenders and now that they're out of the equation we don't realistically have a contender at this time for the Kentucky Derby. But hopefully we may have something for the Belmont."

Ruler's Court, who had been favourite for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, was diagnosed with a knee problem which ruled him out from competing in the spring.

"We were very reluctant to make entries for a whole bunch of maidens," added Crisford. "We can go in on Saturday night, if we want, so we'll have a look at how Great Expectation runs in the UAE Derby before we decide.

"But he lacks experience. So even if he won convincingly, it still wouldn't be the right thing to do. He hasn't had that type of preparation. It would only be the third race of his life.

"So the answer is this year we don't have a Kentucky Derby runner, hopefully we will have a mile and a half candidate for the Belmont but we won't know that till much closer to the time and if we have to supplement with a higher fee to get into the race we'll do that, and if not this year, one year, when we have the horse we'll go. We're not going to invent horses just for the sake of the race," Crisford emphasised.

He also revealed that former juvenile trainers David Loder in England and Eoin Harty in America would not train under the Godolphin banner but would still be sent horses owned by General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence.

"From a company point of view we need to keep the lid on our program in as mach as we have to keep the horses together under one banner," Crisford explained.

"Eoin Harty is still training in America and so is Tom Albertrani and they will continue to train two-year-olds for Sheikh Mohammed except that they won't run in Godolphin's blue colours.

"So nothing has really changed except that all the horses under the Godolphin banner will be based with Saeed bin Suroor at Newmarket and Dubai and they will run in America from Newmarket."

Crisford also announced the Godolphin will be sending the same number of horses to compete in America as they've done in the past.

"And when we compete in the big races we will also bring others to join the party," he said.

Asked if the lack of success in previous two-year-old campaigns in America had prompted the shift in policy Crisford responded emphatically: "The two-year-old campaign was top class and went extremely well with Breeders Cup winners and fabulous horses that have come out of the program including Street Cry, In Dubai, TizDuabi and Rulers Court."

Reflecting on the pervious year he said: "Nine Group 1 wins was perhaps a bit below our normal standards but we still won in excess of $12 million.

"The disappointment was among our three-year-olds, our older horses ran very well in top company globally but the three-year-olds were a disappointing crop. But hopefully this campaign we have better strength and depth there."