Toimy Son finished strongly to defy stall twenty-one in the ultra-competitive Coral Golden Mile at Glorious Goodwood on Friday.
The David Menuisier-trained Toimy Son was sent off a well-backed 12/1 to claim one of Goodwood's most competitive handicaps, but connections would have feared the worst when it was announced they had been handed gate twenty-one.
Three-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy managed to slot into midfield from his wide draw and once he let Toimy Son loose, the five-year-old began to make rapid headway.
The well-fancied 5/1 joint-favourite Holloway Boy hit the front with a furlong to travel, but he failed to match the turn of foot shown by Toimy Son in the closing stages as David Menuisier's charge cruised clear for a comfortable two-length success from the running-on Dutch Decoy.
"I don't know if I had him wrong, but he just wasn't doing anything last year, so we decided to geld him and give him an all-weather campaign," said the winning trainer.
"He had a couple of colic operations and nearly died, so we had to give him time.
"This season you could tell that he was coming back to some form. I kept him over seven because he was always a bit keen and by racing, he settled naturally so I decided to go back to a mile and save him for this.
"I thought if he gets in, he should be competitive but when I saw the draw a couple of days ago I kind of lost all hope, he was 21 of 21. I spoke to Oisin, and he said of the horse runs his best he has a massive chance, so we'll try and go a bit more forward than usual and the rest is history really.
"He's won a massive race, so we'll enjoy this one. Big time."
