The highly-popular Ropey Guest claimed a notable victory at York when taking the Clipper Handicap for George Margarson.
The gelding is great campaigner for the stable and has often come within inches of landing a big handicap prize, including second-placed finishes in the past two renewals of the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket.
At one stage the highest-rated maiden in the country, he has looked like he was due a bit of luck and on the Knavesmire he finally received it under regular rider Tom Queally.
Having started at 40-1, the six-year-old ran gamely and saw off all challengers to come home a head in front of Point Lynas.
Margarson said: “Last time at Ascot he blew the start and before that in the Bunbury he was very unlucky, Sean Levey was devastated, so we knew he was in better form this year than he ever has been.
“The Guest family (owners) live near Ascot and have their business there so he tends to run there a lot and it’s good money there. There is a race at Ascot next week but I said we’d come here and go for the big one, it’s over £70,000 to the winner.
“Fair play to Tom, he said he’d ride him as a stayer, he has won over a mile at Yarmouth but you can’t really count that. He’s done most of his running in sprints. This is great for the yard, especially with the sales season coming up.
“Katie (daughter) is away in Finland competing in a triathlon, she’s devastated she can’t be here but Rosie (daughter) has been riding her out and has obviously improved him!
“That’s his fourth win and he’s won over £200,000 in prize-money. He’s six now yet he was running in the Coventry and Acomb at two so we’ve never shirked anything.”
Gushing Gold picked off her rivals to win the Or8Wellness EBF Stallions Nursery Handicap for Andrew Balding and William Buick.
The Blue Point filly was prominent in the early stages of the content but found herself in mid-division when the field reached the home straight.
Asked to quicken by her rider, however, she duly did so and prevailed from a closely-bunched group of three when winning by a neck at 7-1.
“She won fair and square, in fairness to her she’s been very consistent,” Balding said.
“We thought she was good enough to run in the Albany so she was probably well handicapped.
“She was a bit disappointing in the Albany (ninth) so we gave her a break, she ran a very good race at Kempton the other day though the surface was a bit slow for her.
“This race today was for good prize-money so we thought we’d roll the dice and she’s done it well. She’s a smashing filly with a really good attitude.”
In the concluding British EBF 40th Anniversary Fillies’ Handicap it was Nigiri who came to the fore, blitzing the field to score at 5-1.
Ralph Beckett’s charge arrived in York in search of a hat-trick and brought up the hat-trick in emphatic style, busting out the pack and surging to a cosy four-and-a-quarter-length success.
“I didn’t think it would go like that and it didn’t look like that at the top of the straight,” said Beckett.
“I rang her owners earlier in the week and said should we go to Kempton or we can come here and I wasn’t sure about the ground. She’s quite a light-framed filly and we thought we would probably be OK.
“She will have to go to stakes races now and maybe the Sceptre Stakes at Doncaster, a straight seven there. Maybe that as the Atalanta Stakes next week might come too quick for her.
“She’s probably a better filly than we thought she was, she’s come along way. She bled at Chelmsford in May, so she’s come a long way since then. It’s nice to have a good one for the owners.”
