Yibir recorded his first staying success in the 2m Listed Coral Marathon at Sandown Park on Friday.

Despite receiving a bump coming out of the stalls, William Buick managed to settle the short-priced favourite Yibir at the rear of the field in the early stages of the race. The five-year-old was travelling well behind pace-setter Sleeping Lion until the final turn where he came off the bridle and had to be pushed along. 

Aaddeey looked the likely winner as the field straightened up with Yibir struggling for room but Charlie Appleby's charge seemed to kick into gear once William Buick found a clear run. He pulled clear to win by three lengths from Aaddeey. Ocean Wind stayed on for third, which was an eye catching performance from a horse returning from a lengthy absence. 

In a post race interview with Racing TV, jockey William Buick said: "It [the bump coming out of the stalls] set him alight a little bit. He couldn't race like that for two miles so I had to get him back. Once I did, he got into a lovely rhythm, and he was taking me the whole way and the pace was even the whole way so you could have come from anywhere in that race. 

"He built into the race lovely and when I asked him, he picked up well. It's probably the absolute maximum of how far you'd want to go, he could probably come back to 1m6f. He's proven now that he does get the trip but I think it's as far as he wants to go.

"He warms into his races, sometimes he looks great, sometimes it doesn't work. Today, we got the balance right and he was entitled to win in that company so it's lovely to get him back to winning

Now he's won over two miles, it's always gives confidence to future targets over the distance. The obvious races are the Goodwood Cup, the Irish Leger - he still retains plenty of class so I'm sure those races will be under consideration."