Thursday, 20 June 2019: The Andrew Balding-trained Dashing Willoughby's victory in the G2 £225,000 Queen's Vase was the trainer's fourth at Royal Ascot - and his first for five years.

Dashing Willoughby winning the Queen's Vase (Group 2)

Dashing Willoughby , a son of Nathaniel, showed grit and determination to see off the Aidan O'Brien-trained Barbados by half a length under Oisin Murphy. He was well-backed and was seen as high as 14/1 this morning, but was sent off at 6/1.

Balding said: "He loves the ground, he stays well and he's pretty classy. 

"He had a little hiccup on Saturday morning - he was very lame. He had a blood blister in his foot and our farrier Eugene Cullen and head lad Kevin Hunt worked through the night and, happily, he was right 24 hours later.

"We're just delighted. It's great for Mick and Janice [Mariscoti, Dashing Willoughby's owners] who have been very good, loyal supporters of ours.

"He's got a bit of talent, this horse. We were really hopeful coming into the race and the rain certainly was in his favour. The St Leger is the logical objective. It'll be a lot tougher than this, but I think he deserves to be heading in that direction now."

Owner Mick Mariscoti said: "This is indescribable. I wasn't there on Derby day when we had our 50th winner - I was on a plane to Madrid to watch Spurs - but I am delighted to be here today.

"The joy of days like today makes up for 100 days when it is not quite as good. This our first Group winner and our first Royal Ascot winner.

"I cannot really describe how I feel, it's fantastic."

Dashing Willoughby is a 16/1 chance with Betfred, Ascot's official bookmaker, for the St Leger in September.