Krypton Factor charged past Rocket Man in deep stretch to win the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Gulf News (UAE-I) at Meydan Racecourse March 31.

Kieren Fallon rode the 4-year-old gelding by Kyllachy to his second straight win at the Dubai World Cup Carnival. The gelding had won the Mahab Al Shimaal Sponsored by Skywards (UAE-III) in his last start on March 10.

"This horse has continued to improve all through the Dubai World Cup Carnival, and I knew he was in good form," Fallon said. "He was always going well for me tonight and I thought I had them covered a good way out. He's the kind of horse that thrives on racing and I'd love to ride him at Royal Ascot."

Both Rocket Man and Giant Ryan broke sharply and shot straight to the lead. Fallon kept Krypton Factor well-placed in mid-pack, content to let the leading pair set swift fractions on the front end.

As the field entered the home straight, Rocket Man took the lead as Giant Ryan began to fade. Krypton Factor began to close strongly on the outside, and overtook Rocket Man with a furlong to run to win by 2 1/4 lengths.

Rocket Man held on for second, two lengths in front of a late-closing Lucky Nine. The Bob Baffert-trained The Factor   was never involved and finished sixth, just behind Giant Ryan.

"I was happy with where I was and at one point I was getting excited," Willie Martinez said of his ride aboard Giant Ryan. "He ran his race after a layoff. I was very proud of him. It takes a lot to put up that kind of effort."

"My horse had all the opportunity to get on the lead or pretty close. He was too relaxed," a disappointed Rafael Bejarano said of The Factor. "My horse never showed me anything. He was really tired the whole race."

The final time for the six furlongs on the Tapeta was a swift 1:10.79.

Krypton Factor is owned and trained by Bahrain-based Fawzi Abdulla Nass, and was bred in England by Lady Fairhaven. Krypton Factor is out of the stakes-winning Polar Falcon mare Cool Question.

"He had never faced such competition before but we still felt confident going into the race," Nass said. "I guess we didn't know quite how good he is. We knew there was a lot of pace so it always going to be best to sit off of it and then Kieren angled him to the outside and that was that. We may go to Singapore next and we'll be thinking of Royal Ascot as well depending how things go."

Krypton Factor's biggest win improved his record to 8-5-3 in 20 starts with earnings of $1,553,638.