Yeats, ridden by Mick Kinane for Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien, won the Ascot Gold Cup yesterday for the second year in succession.

Sent off as the 8-13 favourite, the six-year-old took up the running turning into the straight and held on by 1-1/2 lengths from 12-1 shot Geordieland, the mount of Jamie Spencer.

Third place in the 14-strong field a further 3-1/2 lengths away went to German raider Le Miracle, a 50-1 outsider ridden by Dominique Boeuf.

The disappointment of the race was last-placed 13-2 second favourite Sergeant Cecil, partnered by Jimmy Fortune who had ridden five previous winners at the Royal meeting this year.

The Gold Cup was first run 200 years ago in 1807 and at 2-1/2 miles (four-km) is the acid test for top-class stayers around Europe and beyond.

Yeats came to this year's race with two fine wins under his belt and was always travelling well, racing in mid-division for much of the time before pressing the accelerator.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.