Pierre Royal strikes Cambridgeshire gold for Ireland

Pierre Royal got his nose in front when it mattered most in the dying strides to land the bet365 Cambridgeshire at Newmarket.

But connections of the Adrian McGuinness-trained four-year-old had a tense wait before the judge confirmed he had edged Crest Of Fire to become the first Irish-trained winner of the race this century.

Both the winner and second came from the group on the far side and it was Jack Channon’s Crest Of Fire who was first to emerge in the hands of Tom Marquand.

But he was stalked all the way by the Mikey Sheehy-ridden Pierre Royal and the 33-1 shot reeled him to just get up.

Altareq ran a huge race for Jim Goldie and Lauren Young to claim third at 100-1 with favourite Gavriel the best of the near-side runners in fourth.

McGuinness said: “I wasn’t surprised as we have been running him on soft ground and it’s been killing me. He was third in an Irish Cambridgeshire on soft ground and I said I’d come here for the better ground. We gave it some cheer and I’ve just dashed back from the winning post.

“We only made our minds up to come last Monday and he ran very well in the Irish Cambridgeshire and then we ran him back over one-mile-two and it was soft and he didn’t handle it.

“He’s a lovely horse to train and he’s very easy on himself, he travels over well and he eats and like myself can get a bit big sometimes. He just eats, sleeps and drinks.

“There’s a great bunch of lads involved in this horse and they’ve had a great time with him. He’s paid his way plenty and cost only 48,000 guineas at Newmarket last year.”

He went on: “I told Mikey to sit out the back as he had plenty of boot and in all fairness to Mikey I think one of his last rides for me he took was a spare on a reserve that won the Galway Mile and he’s a top-class rider.

“I’m delighted I got him and only rang his agent a couple of days ago to see if he was available as I wanted to pick someone who is lucky for me. He’s top notch.”