Top weight Astro King (20/1) got the better of the well-backed 5/2 favourite Greek Order to win the bet365 Cambridgeshire.
The six-year-old has proved a shrewd buy for the Daniel and Claire Kubler team having landed a valuable pot at the Sky Bet Ebor Festival last time.
But this was his finest hour as he came through inside the final furlong and dug deep to fend off the market leader by a neck.
Bopero (16/1), Oviedo (12/1) and Majestic (14/1) all hit the frame but the principals had this between them through the closing stages.
Astro King was carrying the highest weight (9st 12lb) to victory in the Cambridgeshire's 184-year history.
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Daniel Kubler said: “We didn’t pay a fortune for him, and you always buy hoping you can win races like this. It doesn’t work very often but it has worked very well with him. After the John Smith’s Cup the race back at York was the obvious target and how he ran there was going to dictate where we went next.
“William (Buick) said he might get a mile and a half and we considered it, but when we looked at all the options and you looked at this and you thought they will go a massive gallop and you need to get a mile and a quarter and the prizemoney is huge there is only one Cambridgeshire and what was the alternative. We will have to go into Stakes company now. He could have run in a Listed race but they are worth fifty or sixty thousand (pounds), but this is worth one hundred thousand pounds to the winner.
“This is massive for the team as they all work really hard. Everyone wants to compete at the highest levels and to win a big handicap like this hopefully now everyone is looking forward to the next step.
“We’ve got some nice horses and we have had a good season, but it means a bit to be winning on the biggest stages. It is special for them. Mr (Nick) Luck must be able to see around corners as he booked us for Luck On Sunday tomorrow!”
Overseas targets now in view
Regarding future plans an outing in the Bahrain International Trophy on November 17th could be next up for Astro King.
Kubler continued: “You hope something like this goes well but hopefully he might be rated high enough to go out there. It will be fast ground over 10 furlongs and it is a massive prize. The horse owes nobody anything so you may as well have a go and see what happens. He is six years old so there is no point saving him for next season. You may as well enjoy him. We will seriously consider it.”
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