Gerard Butler faces an anxious few days as he waits to find out whether Compton Banker, an unlucky loser at Ascot today, can get a run in the Vodafone Stewards' Cup at Goodwood this Saturday.
Compton Banker was arguably the moral winner of the £80,000 Hong Kong Jockey Club Sprint, the richest five-furlong handicap in Europe and centrepiece of the Berkshire venue's inaugural Hong Kong day.
The three-year-old ran from 4lb out of the weights and carried 1lb overweight for the services of Paul Doe.
Having being switched from mid-trackfrom his draw in stall nine, to the apparently-favoured stands' rail, found his path littered with more hazards than a minefield.
Doe had to sit and suffer from halfway and only found an opening well inside the final furlong. By then it was too late but Compton Banker's spurt saw him overhaul half a dozen rivals, with only Magic Rainbow proving elusive, the winning margin being three-quarters-of-a-length.
Victory would have handed Compton Banker a virtually assured ticket to Saturday's sprint courtesy of a 7lb penalty.
Now Butler must wait on Thursday's declaration stage to see if his lightly-weighted three-year-old makes the final 30. Ladbrokes quote Compton Banker at 20-1.
There is a consolation race, the Stewards' Sprint Stakes on Friday for those who do not get in, but Butler said: 'The trouble is that he'd be high up in the handicap in that race and if you got a bad draw it's a waste of a run.
'We'll just have to wait and see but hopefully he'll get in the Stewards' Cup. He's really learnt to sprint now and he can pick up. It just would have been nice if we were taking that trophy home today. That would have done it for us.'
The trophy, plus the £46,000 first prize, headed to Newmarket courtesy of the Michael Bell-trained Magic Rainbow who was giving high-flying apprentice Jamie Mackay, 17, a notable success.
Mackay produced Magic Rainbow, fifth to Royal Artist over an additional furlong at Ascot on Friday, to head Further Outlook a furlong from home and poach enough advantage to deny Compton Banker.
Unlike Butler, Bell has no anxieties over the Stewards' Cup as Magic Rainbow, who was 15th to Harmonic Way in the race last season, is not even entered.
Owner Peter Fenwick said: 'Even though he ran quite well in it last year I don't think these big cavalry charges are right for him. I've had him since he was a baby and he's a friend.'
Salty Jack, one of the first horses Vic Soane was sent when he took out a licence, gained his ninth victory when overcoming a potentially disastrous high draw in the Happy Valley Stakes.
John Egan managed to manoeuvre his mount, berthed in stall 16, to a position near the rails, where the runners were packed in a tight formation.
He delivered Salty Jack to lead entering the final furlong and score by half-a-length from the strong-finishing It's Magic.
Soane said: 'John has done everything perfectly from a bad draw. This is the first time he's won over one mile on grass. I always thought he would, but as he was running so well over seven furlongs it was difficult to step him up.
'He'd run a terrific race when fifth in the Bunbury Cup and that form's working out well with Tillerman winning here yesterday.'
Mark Johnston completed a double when Mana D'Argent and Saratov collected the first two races.
The trainer's promising apprentice Keith Dalgleish gained his first Ascot victory on Mana D'Argent in the Sha Tin Handicap while Richard Hills deputised for the indisposed Darryll Holland on Saratov in the Hong Kong Auction stakes.
Johnston has his horses in excellent form and is eagerly anticipating this week's Goodwood meeting. He said: 'There are quite a lot of races where my entries overlap, so at this stage I am not sure how they are going to pan out. I've got a lot of entries.'
Hills completed a double when donning the colours of his retainer, Hamdan Al Maktoum to take the Sino Group Dragon trophy on Sir Michael Stoute's Asly, who beat Johnston's Hiddnah by one-and-three-quarter lengths.
