On a night favourites took a back seat, while the rank outsiders waltzed to victory at the Meydan racecourse in Dubai on Saturday, the talented grey Hit Show from the yard of Brad Cox dropped the biggest bombshell in the marquee event, the Dubai World Cup (G1)  edging out Mixto close home to the delight of the Cox camp and the big American contingent, who loved the 1-2 finish in the rich $12 million event which saw the public rage Forever Young, winner of the Saudi Cup 42 days ago, finish a tame third much to the disappointment of his jockey Ryusei Sakai, who made it clear that the top horse of Japan was not at his best. "He was just not travelling well and it wasn't an easy race. We expected him to reproduce his Saudi effort and that didn't happen, " said Sakai pointing out that all the horses which competed in Saudi performed below par on the big night at Meydan. Most of the racing pundits endorsed the view of Sakai. They believed that the Saudi Cup may have taken some juice out of the runners, Forever Young and  Romantic Warrior, the top two on the international circuit, who finished 1-2 in the Saudi Cup failing in their mission to stand tall at the podium in Dubai. 

Gracing the wrong end of the field for most part of the 2000 metres trip, Florent Geroux astride the winner packed punch on Hit Show the moment the grey started to show the willingness and enterprise to make a race of it 600 metres from home and Hit Show covered acres of ground before galloping to fame, beating the Doug O'Neill-trained Mixto close home-half length separating the two at the wire. Geroux admitted that though he quickly picked up and passed a number of front runners he was not sure that he will catch Frankie Dettori and Mixto who had established a couple of lengths lead in the final furlong, but Hit Show in no mood to settle for the runner-up berth kept going and to the delight of the Cox camp entered the Hall Of Fame in resplendent style. 

"To be honest with you, I was only looking to place in this big iconic event. And Hit Show gave me more," said Geroux.  Cox, who was not at Meydan on the big night, staying back in the United States monitoring the progress of his Kentucky Derby aspirants was totally surprised with the result. "I still can't believe it, he said in a telephonic conversation adding that he would have loved to be in Dubai . 

Dettori, who looked set to record his fifth World Cup win and second success of the day for O'Neill on Mixto after booting home the on-money favourite Raging Torrent in the Godolphin Mile (G2) said: "Mixto ran a superb race. I had the perfect trip and I couldn't complain. It's just a shame he got beat on the line."  While the Americans celebrated the 1-2 finish, it must be mentioned that the winning owner Watnan Racing is a three-year-old venture headed by the Emir of Qatar and Geroux is a native of France.