Australian bred globetrotter Musir ran out a convincing winner in Round 1 of the G3 Al Maktoum Challenge (1600m) at Meydan on Thursday evening.

Musir (6h Redoute’s Choice – Dizzy De Lago by Encosta De Lago) defeated stablemate Master Of Hounds (Kingmambo) by three lengths on the Tapeta circuit.  He was racing first-up since a G2 victory in the Topkapi Trophy in Turkey on September 4.

“We are delighted,” trainer Mike De Kock said.  “Musir is a much stronger horse this year and I still feel that turf is his best surface.  He will now switch to turf for the Zabeel Mile on the way to the G1 Dubai Duty Free.”

The Redoute’s Choice stallion is an Australian homebred for Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa and was exported to South Africa where he posted a Group 1 victory in the 2009 Golden Horseshoe.

De Kock set him for the 2010 Dubai carnival and he was a class above the opposition in the G3 UAE 2000 Guineas and G2 UAE Derby.

Musir was repatriated to Australia for a 2010 Cox Plate campaign but returned to the Gulf without racing here.  De Kock set him for the 2011 Dubai World Cup, however, he pulled hard against Christophe Soumillon and finished four lengths adrift of Japanese raider Victoire Pisa.

The next port of call was Hong Kong in April and he finished third, beaten a half-length by Xtension, in the G1 BMW Champions Mile at Sha Tin.  Returning to De Kock’s Newmarket base in England, he was placed in the G2 Hungerford Stakes at Newbury in August prior to the away win in Turkey.

Arrowfield champion Redoute’s Choice has sired 80 stakes winners world-wide.  His other off-shore black-type winners include Elzaam & Tazahum (GB), Clianthus (Japan), King’s Rose, Burgundy & Redoute’s Dancer (NZ) and Bishops Rock (South Africa).

Musir’s dam Dizzy de Lago was stakes placed in Adelaide and she foaled a Redoute’s Choice filly in October.