The Marcus Tregoning-trained Power Of Darkness (11/4f) captured the £60,000 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Mile.
Ridden by the Rest of the World’s Vincent C. Y. Ho, the four-year-old son of Power recorded a length success and provided the Rest of the World team with 15 points, who now lead the standings with 62 points.
Tregoning said: “Vincent has had experience riding in Britain for Mark Johnston.
“He has never ridden at Ascot before so we had a chat beforehand because it is a stiff mile here, but he gave the horse a super ride.
“We love supporting the Shergar Cup as it is a great concept.
“We’ve now had two runners at the Shergar Cup, both of which have been in this race and they have both won (previous winner was Boom And Bust, 2012).”
HO’S GOT THE POWER
Power Of Darkness provided jockey Vincent Ho Chak-Yiu with his first Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup winner by taking the £60,000 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Mile.
The Marcus Tregoning-trained four-year-old was sent off the 11/4 favourite, and beat Zhui Feng (Gerald Mosse and Amanda Perrett) by a length.
The Hong Kong-based jockey has been riding in Britain for the past couple of weeks and who partnered three winners in that time, two for Mark Johnston and one for Keith Dalgleish, all at Scottish tracks.
He said: “The rain came for us and once he set to, he gave me a great turn of foot. He just relaxed behind horses and then went on.
“It is like a dream come true. I never even imagined myself riding at Ascot, and to get a chance here and then have a winner is a dream. It is just amazing to be at the Shergar Cup because the atmosphere is great and you are racing against some of the top jockeys in the world. We will see what the people in Hong Kong make of it, but hopefully my parents are happy.”
That means he is on 25 points, putting him currently in joint-second place in the Silver Saddle contest. Mark Zahra is also on 25, while Filip Minarik is still in the lead on 32 points.
His team, the Rest of the World, are ahead in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup with 62 points, with Europe second on 55, The Girls third with 30 points and the Great Britain and Ireland in fourth place with 13 points.
Second place for Europe in the Mile
Europe had to settle for second-best in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Mile courtesy of Zhui Feng (15/2) ridden by Gerald Mosse, who was pleased with the run put in by the Amanda Perrett-trained runner.
“He ran well, I went for the line and he was travelling well, he just got a bit tired,” said the jockey, who was beaten a length.
Perrett added: “He has run a great race – we are a bit stuck in second place at the moment, but Gerald gave him a lovely ride and it is great to see Zhui Feng put last week’s run behind him.”
Jockey Yuga Kawada, riding for the Rest of the World team, partnered the third-placed Zwayyan (9/1). He said: “I had a good draw and the pace was good. The horse ran well.”
The Rest of the World is now leading on 62 points, ahead of Europe on 55.
Europe team captain Filip Minarik, who rode the fifth-placed War Glory (14/1), picking up three points, said: “He tried hard. I rode him quietly, patiently, and full of confidence and he ran for me. I am happy with the run.”
Minarik is leading the competition for the Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle on 32 points.
Team captain Jamie Spencer was a best-placed finisher for the GB&I team on the fourth-placed Nicholas T. Spencer reported: “He ran well, he needs further.”
RESULT 4
2:50pm £60,000 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Mile 7f 213y
1 (2) Power of Darkness 4 9 7 Marcus Tregoning Mr R. C. C. Villers Vincent C. Y. Ho ROW 11/4FAV
2 (11) Zhui Feng (IRE) 6 9 10 Amanda Perrett John Connolly & Odile Griffith Gerald Mosse EUR 15/2
3 (3) Zwayyan bl 6 9 11 Andrew Balding King Power Racing Co Ltd Yuga Kawada ROW 9/1
4 (8) Nicholas T 7 9 9 Jim Goldie Mr James Callow & Mr J. S. Goldie Jamie Spencer GBI 15/2
5 (4) War Glory (IRE) 6 9 9 Richard Hannon Mr Mohamed Saeed Al Shahi Filip Minarik EUR 14/1
6 (6) Via Serendipity ts 5 9 8 Stuart Williams Happy Valley Racing & Breeding Limited Tadhg O’Shea GBI 5/1
7 (7) Breden (IRE) 9 9 13 Linda Jewell The Breden Racing Partnership Mark Zahra ROW 25/1
8 (10) Original Choice (IRE) 5 9 10 Nick Littmoden Mr A. A. Goodman Adrie de Vries EUR 12/1
9 (1) Another Batt (IRE) 4 9 13 Richard Hughes Excel Racing (Another Batt) Jamie Kah GIRLS 5/1
10 (5) Waarif (IRE) 6 9 10 David O’Meara Middleham Park Racing XLIX Nanako Fujita (3) GIRLS 12/1
Time: 1m 42.11s
Distances: 1, nk, 1½, ¾, ¾, 4, 1, ½, 1¼
Tote win: £3.50 PL: £1.60 £2.70 £3.10 Ex: £28.80 CSF: £24.52 Tricast: £171.48 Trifecta: £206.30