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Godolphin's 2018 Caulfield Cup winner Best Solution finished unplaced in his comeback race at Kempton Park in the UK on Saturday.
Trained by Saeed bin Suroor, Best Solution endured a tough run three wide in the G3 September Stakes and was not disgraced finishing a respectable seventh in the 2419m contest on the all-weather surface.
The son of Kodiak won multiple G1 races in 2018 before a long spell.
His 2018 campaign included wins in the G2 Princess of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket and a pair of G1 wins in Germany before he came to Australia to win the Caulfield Cup and finish eighth in the Melbourne Cup after missing the start by five lengths.
The September Stakes was won by the John Gosden-trained Royal Line from Hugo Palmer's Mootasadir with last year's spring carnival star Prince Of Arran third.
Trained by Charlie Fellowes, Prince Of Arran was third in the G2 Herbert Power at Caulfield and won Flemington's G3 Lexus Stakes before finishing third in the G1 Melbourne Cup last spring. He is again entered for this year's Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
Best Solution's stablemate Mountain Hunter, an entry for the Cups double, finished fifth in the September Stakes. He is a US-bred son of Lonhro with five wins from 16 starts including a double in Dubai earlier this year.
The Andrew Balding-traind Pivoine, an Irish-bred son of Redoute's Choice also entered for the Cups, finished ninth. He won the Diamond Jubilee Cup at York at his previous start
Best Solution has not been entered for the Cups double this year with the Godolphin assault to be led by last year's Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter, trained by Charlie Appleby.
Cross Counter is set to have his next start in the G1 Irish St Leger on September 15 at The Curragh before he is shipped to Australia.
Meanwhile Saeed bin Suroor has Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow back in the UK following his scratching from the G1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga in New York last month.
However future plans, that included the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita as a year-end goal, are currently in the balance.
"He had a temperature in New York," Saeed reported. "He's getting a small break and there's no plan for him yet."
