Charles the Great, trained locally by Andrew Balding and ridden by Jimmy Fortune landed the £200,000 Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury Racecourse on Saturday 16 July.
Sharp away from the stalls and remaining in front of the 24 other runners throughout, Charles The Great held on by a head from the fast-finishing Lily’s Angel in second and Nagham in third.
Commenting on the race, Andrew Balding said: “I’ve always held this horse in high regard as he broke the two-year-old track record at Windsor but was then disappointing at Royal Ascot, but he has certainly made up for it today. The £200,000 prize money purse attracted us to run in this race and we are obviously delighted that we took our chance here today.
"I'm also really pleased for the owners Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds as they've had horses with me for a long time and are very loyal.”
Deacon Blues stormed clear of his rivals for Frankie Dettori and trainer James Fanshawe in the other feature race of the day, the Group 3 Shadwell Stakes. Sent off favourite following his win in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot last month, Deacon Blues kept his winning streak intact and also notched his first Group race of his career.
A wet start to the day did not deter the 12,500 racegoers who flocked through the racecourse gates to enjoy, eventually in sunshine, seven quality Flat races on Day Two of the Dubai Summer Festival, which culminated on Sunday with a free day of world class Arab racing. Ian Cunningham from Southampton was the lucky winner of the official programme prize draw and walked away with a luxury four night stay in Dubai including return flights courtesy of Emirates Airlines and Al Murooj Rotana Hotel.
Pictured: Charles The Great (centre) under Jockey Jimmy Fortune holds on to win the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury Races (16/7/11).
Allison is the Publisher of Eclipse Magazine. She loves going to the Races and is learning to bet (despite being officially the worst bettor in the History of the Universe), there’s a lot more to learn…
