Pierre Royal produces huge shock to win bet365 Cambridgeshire Handicap as late decision by trainer pays off

An eleventh-hour decision by trainer Ado McGuinness paid handsome dividends as Pierre Royal produced a 33/1 shock win in the bet365 Cambridgeshire Handicap at Newmarket.

The four-year-old, the sole Irish contender in the 27-strong field and available with bookmakers at 66/1 in the morning, finished off powerfully under rider Mikey Sheehy to overhaul Crest Of Fire by a short-head in the shadows of the post.

A relaxed McGuinness only committed Pierre Royal for yesterday’s Heritage handicap on Monday and left it until Thursday to book his lucky mascot in Sheehy.

‘He’s a top-class rider and one of the top lads at home. I’m delighted I got him,’ explained the delighted Co-Dublin based handler.

‘I only rang his agent two days ago and asked if he was available, as I wanted to pick someone who was lucky for me. He is top-class – I told him what I wanted him to do and in fairness he did it.

‘We only made our mind up to come here on Monday. I said this race was our only chance of getting another good run into him this year.

‘He’s a lovely horse to train. He travels over easy and sleeps, drinks and eats. Like me, he is a bit big sometimes!’

Earlier on the card, Sun Goddess blazed up the Rowley Mile in the hands of Ryan Moore to land a vintage renewal of the Tattersalls Cheveley Park Stakes in a course record time.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien, the daughter of Sioux Nation was bought for a relatively modest £120,000 at the Goffs Premier Yearling sale last August and remarkably was winning her sixth race of the campaign while recording her third Group 1 success of the summer.

She was installed as 7/4 favourite for next season’s Betfred 1000 Guineas by the sponsors and was labelled a ‘freak’ by her handler following her length defeat of Libertango.

‘She is an incredible filly, what can I say?’ enthused O’Brien who had earlier won the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes with the well-backed Haffner.

‘She was going to be vulnerable today and the preparation would have been unorthodox, but she is an incredible filly – she looks a freak to be doing what she has.’

The other Group 1 prize went the way of the Clive Cox-trained Orthodox who bounced back from a modest effort in the Prix Morny under Rossa Ryan to hand his trainer a third success in the Tattersalls Middle Park Stakes.

It was also a second winner in the race for owner Jason Goddard who had previously won the Group 1 prize with Supremacy in 2020.