Ray Dawson hails 'very special moment' as Mawj tees up Group 1 tilt

Friday: Newmarket

September 24 will be marked on Ray Dawson's calendar with the jockey eyeing a breakthrough top-level success in the Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes after Mawj produced a career-best performance in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes.

The Godolphin filly, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, went one better from her Albany Stakes second to provide Dawson with one of the biggest days of his career in the bet365-sponsored event.

Mawj's win was not without drama, with the winner drifting left and carrying runner-up Lezoo and her rider Frankie Dettori towards the centre of the track inside the final furlong, but the stewards did not reverse the placings and suspended Dawson for three days.

Dawson has ridden Mawj on each of her three starts, and described his second victory at Group 2 level - less than a year on from Zain Claudette's Lowther win - as a "very special moment".

Mawj (left) drifts towards Lezoo (near) in the closing stages of the Duchess of CambridgeCredit: Edward Whitaker

The winning rider said: "There was interference and I was unaware Frankie was there until the last furlong, which was a little bit late. The suspension is fair enough, we did drift across and you have to be punished for that.

"I was impressed with Mawj, she was very professional and she has scope to improve in the future. She'll mentally come on again for this run.

"This is a very special moment for me in such illustrious silks and hopefully she can prove a Group 1 filly."

St Leger horse? We'll find out at York

New London was a disappointing 4-11 favourite in the Chester Vase back in May, but he returned to winning ways in style in the bet365 Handicap to set up a potential crack at the season's final Classic.

The 1m4½f trip at Chester resulted in New London meeting defeat for the first time, but returned to 1m2f he made light work of 11 rivals here under William Buick.

However, Appleby suspects the horse was just not right at Chester rather than the trip being the issue and is keen to once again explore further.

New London stretches clear for victory in the 1m2f handicapCredit: Edward Whitaker

He said: "I'm delighted to get him back on track, we liked him in the spring and over the last six weeks he's turned a corner.

"He's a nice horse who stays well and on a good, sound surface we could look at the Voltigeur. William mentioned the St Leger and we'll see after the Voltigeur if he's a St Leger horse. He will stay, the only question mark at that time of year would be the ground as he didn't like the soft at Chester."

Three-way finish

For jockeys there are two types of photo-finish. There are the ones where the judge may be unsure but the jockey is not. Then there are the ones where even they don't know. The bet365 Trophy was the latter.

In a three-way go, Franny Norton's mount Soapy Stevens just got the better of 100-1 outsider Red Flyer, with Zoffee two short heads back in third.

"I didn't know, and usually I do, but I just put my head down and I might still have been pushing up to the road!" said Norton.

"He's been a little unlucky in some of his races. I followed Frankie through and I thought he'd nailed it, but he just found the extra length I wanted."

There was a sad postscript to the race with Soapy Stevens' stablemate Tribal Art and Summer's Knight both suffering fatal injuries.

Smart debut

George Strawbridge's homebred Epictetus was introduced into the 2,000 Guineas market at 40-1 by Paddy Power after an impressive debut win in the 7f maiden.

Epictetus: made a winning debut in the 7f maidenCredit: Edward Whitaker

Joint-trainer John Gosden said: "We have to be overjoyed with him, he was very professional and Martin [Harley] gave him a lovely ride. We'll probably go for another novice next and he'll be very comfortable over a mile."

Results, replays and analysis

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More interference drama but Mawj survives stewards' inquiry after Group 2 drift

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