Wild Tiger pounces in Royal Hunt Cup

Wild Tiger continued his unbeaten European campaign as he bravely repelled all challengers in the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot on Wednesday, 19 June.

Looking to follow up decisive wins at Yarmouth and Goodwood, the Saeed bin Suroor-trained five-year-old broke smartly and led a group of five that raced up the centre of the course in the mile heritage handicap.

Wild Tiger travelled kindly for Oisin Murphy throughout and moved up to press for the lead as all 29 runners converged approaching the final quarter-mile.

The son of Frankel established a definite advantage entering the final furlong and rallied when strongly pressed on both sides close home, holding on gamely for a head verdict over Sonny Liston.

Saeed bin Suroor said: “Wild Tiger is doing well and I have always liked him. Last year, he had some tiny problems and I stopped running him. This year he looked much better when he arrived back in Newmarket from Dubai. We will look for a Group race for him now, but I think we will keep him at a mile.

“I am always happy when I win a race with a class horse. I said to Oisin, keep out of the way of the others! I said that this was my chance to have a winner here. He’s a top-class jockey and he did it very well.”

Oisin Murphy added: “Saeed provided me with my first Royal Ascot winner [Benbatl in 2017] and he's given me another one today. He has been integral in my career. I am very grateful to him and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, and all the people who work for Godolphin. It's a huge operation and these successes are important.

"Wild Tiger got the mile well, he relaxed brilliantly. He had the perfect preparation and Saeed was very confident – he told me I'd win and I'm glad we got it done. I knew I had used up a little bit of energy in that forward position and that I was a good target for the horses behind, but I had a horse who was well weighted and perfectly prepared.”