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Imbongi weaves his way through traffic

Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum (nearest camera), and Yousuf Al Sayegh with Imbongi (Christophe Soumillon) after the Zabeel Mile. Sheikh Ahmed extends a hand to Christophe. (Andrew Watkins)
by Peter Ward
Imbongi is hopefully World Cup night bound after his gutsy victory in the Group 2 Zabeel Mile, the turf feature at the final Meydan 2010 Carnival meeting before the Dubai World Cup. The Summerhill-bred and Christophe Soumillon were settled well off the pace before managing to weave through in the straight to lead close home in a driving finish with Hunting Tower far from disgraced in fifth.
It was a 12th 2010 Carnival win for the team in a race they won last year with Archipenko and in 2007 with Kapil. De Kock was delighted, if somewhat relieved: "That was a very pleasing run as that ground will have been plenty fast enough for him and you do worry about their legs. He is a gutsy animal though and stuck his neck out bravely.
"Hopefully he comes out of the race fine and we can be back in three weeks with the Godolphin Mile and Dubai Duty Free the two options."
Mr Crazy Boy was fifth in the Meydan Classic, for 3yo over a mile having never really been able to get competitive but he was running on well.
Frosty Secret was prominent for a long way in the 6f conditions race (the first on the straight turf track) before being outpaced in the final furlong to finish fifth also.
Warsaw, partnered by Olivier Peslier, was a close second in the opening 6f race on the Tapeta on another decent night.
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