Anton Marcus bounced back from suspension with victory aboard Chief Ivor, whose success completed a double for trainer John Moore following Glory Hero's earlier win on the dirt.
Marcus, returning from his second five-meeting ban of the season for careless riding, scored an all-the-way success aboard Moore's promising son of Chief's Crown. That made it three wins from 13 rides for the South African, maintaining his high strike-rate in a disrupted season.
Chief Ivor now has two wins to his credit from three starts, having been given a break since his previous victory back in March. He is bred to get a trip, being out of a Sir Tristram mare, and Moore admitted the 1,400-metre distance had been a slight concern.
'He's a horse with a lot of scope and a promising future, so we gave him plenty of time,' Moore said. 'We set out to make all because he had a good draw and we thought he might be caught for a turn of foot over this trip, but he had that touch of class in this company. He's looking for more ground and he'll go up to a mile next time.'
Chief Ivor responded well in the straight to the persistent challenge of Hin Yuen's Unicorn, who eventually wound up third as Lucky Victories' late run failed by three-quarters of a length to peg back the all-the-way winner.
Moore, whose stable is getting into full swing now with five winners for the season, had earlier sent out Glory Hero for a decisive success in the 1,200-metre dirt event. Classic Rizzi set a blistering pace but Eric Saint-Martin had Glory Hero well positioned to strike off the bend, and he ran down the game front-runner in the last 200 metres to score by 1.25 lengths.
