Astonishing pace from Significantly secured a happy ending for hard-luck tale

You know the risks if you're betting on big-field handicaps or running your horse in them; someone is going to end up bitterly frustrated that they didn't get a clear run and wondering what might have been. That was very nearly the case for connections of Significantly, whose luck ran out inside the final furlong of Saturday's Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup when a concertina of rival horses in front left him with nowhere to go and Joe Fanning had to sit up in the saddle and take back to avoid clipping heels.

With ten seconds of the race left to run, that was pretty obviously curtains for his chance. And he'd gone so close in the Portland the week before. Oh well, some horses are just unlucky.

But wait! Incredibly, there was time for Fanning to steer around Ramazan and then for Significantly to quicken past him, pulling the £92,772 prize out of the fire. Few stories end happily after going so badly wrong so close to the final page; those who were on Falcon Eight in Sunday's Irish Cesarewitch know the other side of such tales, as he couldn't quite reel in the 150-1 Magellan Strait after burrowing through half a gap.