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The Right Man caused a minor upset for France in the Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan.

Third behind Jungle Cat in his prep race earlier this month, he turned that form on its head, with Jungle Cat back in fourth.

This was supposed to be the crowning glory for Ertijaal, who has dominated the sprints at the last two carnival meetings but after hitting the front at halfway, Jim Crowley's mount was headed a furlong out and finished third.

Another to disappoint was Henry Candy's Limato, whose chance diminished with every drop of rain during an overnight thunder storm added to rain in the week.

The Right Man, trained in France by Didier Guillemin and ridden by Francois-Xavier Bertras, just held off the late lunge of Bill Mott's Long On Value.

Washington DC finished just out of the places for Aidan O'Brien, with Jeremy Gask's Medicean Man not too far behind him.

William Buick, rider of Jungle Cat, said: "He normally finishes his races very strongly, but that ground blunted his speed to a degree and although he was staying on well he couldn't get there."

Limato was ridden by Harry Bentley, who said: "The run is disappointing, there is no doubt about that, but the ground was very loose, especially three furlongs out and he couldn't handle it.

"We will have to go back to the drawing board when we get him home."

Guillemin said: "To win this is a big surprise and coming into the race we would have been happy with a place finish.

"Along with Tin Horse winning the French 2000 Guineas, this is the biggest accomplishment of my career."

Bertras said: "I was actually quite confident that he would run well as he wasn't 100 per cent fit in his prep run and I knew he had improved."