Dubai Polarisation continued to reap the rewards for Dubai-owned horses on the final day at York’s Ebor meeting when landing the Melrose Stakes on Saturday.

Ridden confidently by Liam Jones, who initially had dreams of playing in the Premier League for Everton until he was told that he was too small to make it as a footballer, the winner prevailed by a neck in a tight finish with Not Never, the mount of Graham Gibbons.

Polarisation is trained by leading handler Mark Johnston for Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai.

Johnston told Channel 4 Racing: “I had three in the race and it was very late on, about a furlong and a half out, before I saw him with a chance.

“He’s run a number of times and had good runs and bad runs and you don’t judge a horse on his worst performance. You put a line through it and try again.

“When I saw him in the pre-parade ring I thought I’d gone to the well once too often. He looked a bit lean, but he obviously thrives on his racing. We’ve no plans yet.”

The winner capped a successful week for horses with Dubai connections following the victories of Storm the Stars in the Great Voltigeur (G2) on Wednesday, Pleascach in the Yorkshire Oaks (G1) on Thursday and Fadhaayil in the City Of York Stakes on Friday.

Other successes for Dubai came courtesy Godolphin’s Memorial Light and Mistrusting and Besharah, for Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance.

Meanwhile Derby-winning handler William Haggas saddled a fifth winner at the meeting when Ajaya won the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes.

The Invincible Spirit colt scored by a length and a quarter over 25-1 outsider Ribchester.

Haggas said: “Ajaya has done nothing but improve physically. The rain scuppered his chance in France. It started raining two hours before and it was game over.

“I think we’ll go for the Middle Park now and take it from there.”

“We’re very fortunate with our two-year-olds this year. We never have a lot, but I’m sure they are helping each other along.”

The Ebor (Heritage Handicap), the most valuable handicap in Europe with prize money of £265,000 (Dh1.5 million), was won in thrilling fashion by the Iisin Murphy-ridden Litigant.

Earlier in the afternoon, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid, was denied more Ebor success when Mutakayyef was narrowly touched off in the Group 3 Strensall Stakes by the David O’Meara-trained Mondialiste.

“We’ll have a look at going up another furlong maybe. We’ve got the Joel Stakes (at Newmarket) as an option or the Daniel Wildenstein in France,” said the trainer. “We haven’t looked at the one-mile-two options yet, but we may have to now.”

Godolphin’s Bassem finished a creditable third on his Group race debut and trainer Saeed Bin Surour said: “Basem ran a good race. We might take him to Ayr for the Listed Doonside Cup on September 19, but the ground is important because he prefers a softer surface.”