Litigant sprang a surprise as he won the Betfred Ebor at York, the richest handicap in Europe, at odds of 33-1.
The seven-year-old had not appeared on a racecourse for 491 days and was having his first run for Joe Tuite, the trainer. But Oisin Murphy, his jockey, brought him through to take up the running at the furlong pole and he stayed on well to hold off Wicklow Brave by a length and a half with Suegioo third and Toe The Line fourth.
The race was run at a fierce pace and the well-fancied Fields Of Athenry, trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by his son Donnacha, moved to the front and kicked clear as the field entered the long, unforgiving York straight.
But he weakened in the closing stages and Litigant finished strongest of all to record a famous win. Murphy said: “I take my hat off to Joe Tuite, because I worked this horse a few times and he wouldn’t work to [an official rating of] 60. But Joe said, ‘Keep the faith, with a bit of ease in the ground he’s a different horse’. I must say he’s bolted up today.
“They went a good gallop, but he’s got enough class. In fairness to George Baker [who rode the horse in his previous four races], he told me this is a Group horse; obviously having had so few runs and been off for so long it’s hard to see it but he was proved right.”
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Tuite said: “I wanted to give Oisin a winner this season. I hoped it would be this horse. That was superb. I’m speechless. It’s a marvellous team performance - I’ve got the best team in racing. I’ve got 20 horses in training and six members of staff. We wanted rain. It didn’t come, but it’s perfect ground.
“They’ve worked unbelievably hard to get this horse back to the track. He’s very delicate. We’ve had a few quid on and we’ve dreamed it. We know he’s very good when he comes right.
“He’s a very good horse and has only been beaten twice in his career. I’m a lucky man that Tony [Byrne] sent this horse to me. We’ve got to look at the two-miler on Champions Day at Ascot now.”
Willie Mullins, the trainer, said: “I was a bit disappointed with Clondaw Warrior. He’s had a lot of racing and maybe it’s taken its toll. But Wicklow Brave ran a cracker.”
Earlier, Ajaya continued an excellent week for William Haggas, the trainer, with a victory full of promise in the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Gimcrack Stakes, the prestigious two-year-old contest.
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Ajaya, ridden by Graham Gibbons, drove clear from the two-furlong mark and had a length and a quarter in hand over Ribchester at the post. Haggas said: “Ajaya has done nothing but improve physically. I think we’ll go for the Middle Park now and take it from there.”