by Jeff Lowe
 
Sanford Stakes (G2) winner Desert Party held off his Godolphin Racing stablemate, Regal Ransom, to prevail by a half-length in a $50,000 allowance race on Thursday at Nad al Sheba racecourse.

The three-year-old Street Cry (Ire) colt took command in the stretch under jockey Frankie Dettori and completed 1,400 meters (6.96 furlongs) in 1:24.43 on a track rated as fast.

Regal Ransom, a maiden winner at Saratoga Race Course in August, finished 3¾ lengths ahead of Redding Colliery in third. Rocks Off, South Africa’s champion two-year-old colt, never threatened and finished fifth.

Desert Party and Regal Ransom both carried the Godolphin blue silks for the first time after racing for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Darley Stable as two-year-olds.

"We were really pleased with the performance of Desert Party and he will improve a lot for that run,” said Simon Crisford, Godolphin’s racing manager. “He certainly stays a mile and we will now look to run him in the [United Arab Emirates Two Thousand] Guineas at Nad al Sheba on February 12. We were also very happy with Regal Ransom and he could also line up in the UAE Two Thousand Guineas, although we are not sure whether he really gets a mile."

John Ferguson, Sheikh Mohammed’s chief bloodstock adviser, purchased Desert Party for $2.1-million last February in the Fasig-Tipton Calder selected sale of two-year-olds in training.

Desert Party scored a 3¼-length victory over a muddy track at Saratoga Race Course in the Sanford on July 24 in his second start for trainer Eoin Harty. He finished a troubled sixth in the Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes (G1) on September 1.

After missing some training because of swelling in a foreleg, Desert Party skipped the rest of the year and joined Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor in Dubai.

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer