Daniel and Claire Kubler’s Astro King pounced late to land the bet365 Cambridgeshire under top-weight at Newmarket.
The six-yar-old gelding was a 20-1 chance under Richard Kingscote and travelled on the inside as the 34-strong field split into several groups down the Rowley Mile.
At one stage the race looked to be happening on the other side, but as Greek Order, the smooth-travelling 5-2 favourite, accelerated down the centre as a gap finally came for Harry and Roger Charlton’s hotpot, he took with him the Kubler challenger.
In the final strides the two locked horns and it was Astro King that just put his head down to seal a valuable triumph by half a length under the burden of 9st 12lb.
“We didn’t pay a fortune for him and you always buy hoping you can win races like this. It doesn’t work very often but it has worked very well with him,” said Daniel Kubler.
“After the John Smith’s Cup the race back at York was the obvious target and how he ran there was going to dictate where we went next.
“William (Buick, jockey) said he might get a mile and a half and we considered it, but when we looked at all the options and you looked at this you thought ‘they will go a massive gallop and you need to get a mile and a quarter’.
“The prize-money is huge, there is only one Cambridgeshire and what was the alternative?
“We will have to go into stakes company now. He could have run in a Listed race but they are worth £50,000 or £60,000 and this is worth £100,000 to the winner.
“This is massive for the team as they all work really hard. Everyone wants to compete at the highest levels and to win a big handicap like this, hopefully now everyone is looking forward to the next step.
“We’ve got some nice horses and we have had a good season, but it means a bit to be winning on the biggest stages. It is special for them.”
Regarding future plans, a trip to the Middle East could be on the agenda for the Bahrain International Trophy in mid-November.
Kubler said: “You hope something like this goes well and hopefully he might be rated high enough to go out there. It will be fast ground over 10 furlongs and it is a massive prize.
“The horse owes nobody anything so you may as well have a go and see what happens. He is six years old so there is no point saving him for next season. You may as well enjoy him.
“We will seriously consider it.”
