Richard Hannon enjoyed a first Royal Ascot winner of the week when his talented gelding Witch Hunter came with a late rattle to hunt down his rivals in the Buckingham Palace Stakes.
The Richard Hannon-trained gelding finished fifth in a Newmarket handicap over seven furlongs last time but put his best foot forward to score on the Ascot straight course in Thursday's closer.
Held up in rear throughout under a motionless Jamie Spencer the pair began to make stealthy headway towards the nearside rail and picked up the running deep inside the final furlong.
Witch Hunter, who was sporting cheekpieces once more, always looked to be doing enough in the closing stages and defied his 50/1 starting price with a snug three-quarter of a length success over the more fancied Croupier (7/1).
The 16/1 chance Northern Express battled on well back in third with Spangled Mac (25/1) finishing fourth for George Boughey.
It was a long time between drinks for Jamie Spencer, who was having his first Royal Ascot winner in five years.
Hannon said: "William [Stobart, owner] rang me one day and said he'd like to buy a horse to go to Royal Ascot. We got here, 100/1, no chance, and he looked like he had no chance, sitting last, and he's gone and won. It does happen to nice people sometimes.
"Jamie's given him a lovely ride – I hate the way he rides, why does he keep doing that to us?! But he gave him a super ride and the horse kind of enjoyed that. When he passes one, he gets his momentum. And when they pass him, sometimes he just goes, 'sod it, I'll go another day'. He's a very good horse on his day and I don't care what price he is.
"I am delighted for William, he's a lovely man, and his wife Clare. I kind of needed that!"
Spencer said: "Witch Hunter been running well on the all-weather, and you often find that horses who have been on the all-weather can perform here. I followed Frankie thinking I might finish fifth or sixth but, at the two-furlong marker, he came back on the bridle and I thought 'oh, he might do a little better than that'. At the furlong pole, I thought I had a chance of winning and he came good at the end. He was second top weight – weight stops trains, but that's the Stobart business!
"It's grand, every time you have a winner here you are happy. It wasn't expected, but everyone likes a surprise every now and then. I started the week with a few that didn't fire - for Mr Gosden's filly Grande Dame [eighth in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes] the ground was too dry, although Light Infantry ran well [third in the Queen Anne Stakes]. It's a hard place to win but you have to ride every horse accordingly, block out what happened half an hour ago, go out positive again, and see how it works out."
William Stobart said: "That is so emotional, incredible, amazing. You couldn't write a book like that, and what was he this morning? 100/1. But he was hard to fancy on paper. I can't believe it."
Ed Crisford said of Croupier: "He travelled well and picked up nicely. I thought we had won, and then Jamie had one out the back and came so late I didn't see him! He won the Hambleton and we thought we would drop him back today to seven, just because we thought a stiff seven would suit him and he ran a super race. We are very pleased."
