'Michael rode a great race and, as I said, he always looked the winner,' says thrilled Oughton
David Oughton got the thrill of his training career last night as Cape Of Good Hope made history by becoming Hong Kong's first ever winner at Royal Ascot.
The sprinter took the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes at York's Royal Ascot meeting after an 11th-hour change of partner to his friend and champion jockey Michael Kinane.
'It's a fantastic thrill - it's a race I thought we should have won last year when Cape Of Good Hope was a close third but this year he was never going to lose,' said a delighted Oughton after the chestnut, who was snubbed in last week's Hong Kong Champion Awards, posted a York course record of one minute and 8.58 seconds on the drying ground and became the first horse from Hong Kong ever to win two international Group One races on foreign soil.
The seven-year-old gelding wore down Galeota in the final 100m to give the Englishman Oughton his first Royal Ascot winner, put the Global Sprint Challenge beyond the reach of any rival and clinched for Kinane the prestigious leading jockey title for the royal meeting.
'I've never had a winner at Royal Ascot and it's just great to be able to come back to England with a horse good enough to win here,' he said. 'On Tuesday in the 1,000m race, I thought Cape Of Good Hope ran well but he was always going to be better for the back-up today and at the extra 200m. This time he just jumped and travelled like the winner from the start, then quickened up when he was asked.'
Kinane's position in the winning seat was like something out of a movie, with the jockey required for ante-post favourite Somnus in the race, second choice rider John Murtagh choosing another ride and Philip Robinson being eventually booked for Cape Of Good Hope.