'I would love to say it was a plot, it was and it wasn't!' - quick compensation for Ralph Beckett as Doha denies gamble

A rollercoaster 35-minute spell for Ralph Beckett saw Sonny Liston lose the Royal Hunt Cup by a head, only for Doha to pick him up off the canvas and deliver a knockout punch in the Kensington Palace Stakes, winning by the same margin as Beckett had been beaten in the previous race.

It was the quickest possible compensation for the trainer as his decision to drop Doha back to a mile proved a masterstroke. The 10-1 shot foiled a massive plunge on runner-up Hopeful, the Andrew Balding-trained filly going off 13-2 favourite having been available at 20-1 earlier in the day.

Doha and Hopeful pulled clear from the furlong pole, obviously two very well-handicapped fillies, and it was Hector Crouch's mount who got her head down at the right time to score narrowly.

Beckett said: "It was a somewhat up and down half an hour! Sonny Liston ran great, it was a good effort.

"I would love to say Doha was a plot, but it was and it wasn't. I dropped her back to a mile because it was Ascot and she won her maiden over a mile. She was always a bit keen over a mile and a quarter, so there was thinking behind it and it worked out.

"The way she travels through her races was what I was banking on, and that's the way it worked out."

It certainly did work out and she provided Crouch with a second royal winner, three years after his first on Surefire in the King George V Stakes. This time at least there was a crowd to welcome him back in.

Crouch said of Doha: "I always felt I was getting the upper hand. She was probably only just getting going inside the last furlong, so I felt I was always getting there.

"It's four years since Surefire won here and it's lovely to be back in the winner's circle. Ralph has been a great supporter of mine. I can enjoy it a bit more this time as there was nobody to celebrate with last time."

Hopeful's punters were probably starting to get confident as she hit the front over a furlong out, but Mickael Barzalona's mount was just denied.

Barzalona said: "She ran a great race. For a while I thought we were going to nick it, and then she just got caught on the line."

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