French star Solow has been ruled out of his defence of the Dubai Turf at the World Cup meeting with a minor injury.

The six-year-old, unbeaten in his past 10 starts, won the nine-furlong (1800m) event last year and had been on course to defend his title until suffering a minor mishap in a gallop.

Trainer Freddy Head initially reported his charge to be fine despite knocking his leg, but the handler was not totally happy with the gelding on Thursday morning and ruled out a trip to Dubai.

"We are not going to Dubai. His leg is not right this morning so we have decided not to go. We just don't have enough time," Head said.

"It's nothing too serious at this stage, but the leg is not right.

"We don't really know where we will go yet, but the Lockinge (at Newbury on May 14) could be an option, although the Prix d'Ispahan is around that time and it was the plan to go for that, so we will see."