Boiling Point followed in the hoofprints of last year’s winner and stablemate Liberty Lane by defying top weight and making most of the running to win the bet365 Cambridgeshire.
Clifford Lee opted to head towards the far rail from stall six aboard the 14/1 chance and shortly after halfway it was clear they held sway over the larger group on the stands’ side.
Coming down into the Dip it looked as though the winner was set for a comfortable success but things got desperate inside the final furlong as Indalo (20/1) threw down a determined challenge.
Roger Varian’s charge was in front a stride after the line, but not on it, with Boiling Point getting the nose verdict. The Newmarket trainer previously had Boiling Point before he was transferred to Karl Burke.
Fort George (11/2) ran well in third, with Erzindjan (28/1) flashing home for fourth.
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Burke said: “He is a very good horse. He is a Group horse and he will win a good Group race. Cliff is so good from the front and there was no point pulling him around from top weight. It was all about getting him in a nice rhythm and he was either good enough or he wasn’t. We were always going to go far side from that draw as well so it has worked out well.
“You have got to have the right horses and Sheikh Mohammed Obaid’s homebreds are so good. Liam (O’Rourke) does a fantastic job organising the mares and coverings. It is brilliant and I’m very happy.
"He just hung on. I wasn’t really worried how early he committed, but he was running on fumes the last 100 yards, but as I said Cliff is brilliant from the front and I never worry when I ask him to go forward. You never know about the draw until after the race, but it was no disadvantage. He will go back into Group company. There isn’t anything in mind yet though as this was the plan.”
Lee said: “He is a lovely horse and we always thought he was a Group horse in a handicap, but to do it off that sort of weight he has proven to be a nice horse. It was tight. I knew I had nicked the race as I set my own fractions and they left me alone.
"Once I kicked him in the belly going through the two pole I always knew he would stay. I didn’t know if I held on as the second horse was coming pretty quick.
“I didn’t see a whole lot of pace so I thought I would do my own thing and set my own fractions in front. In a big field like this I couldn’t believe they left me alone. He finished second in a Group Three the last day so we knew he was a nice horse.”
Varian said of the runner-up: “It is racing, but someone has got to win and someone has got to be second. We were the winner with another six inches. He just didn’t quite have room when we needed it and the winner had gone.
"The way he came out of the pack and attacked the line was good. What he did at Sandown, and at Southwell last time, and he is still not doing things perfectly as he was a bit keen today again, but when he puts it altogether this horse he has got a very big future and we can look forward to that.
"He is progressive and he is still on a mark where he is still in handicaps. I think there is a bit of enthusiasm to keep him for next year. I don’t know if we will do anything more this year, but he is one to be excited about as part of the squad for next year hopefully.
"It is a bit frustrating watching it again here. He didn’t look like getting as close as he did, then he did, and you are then thinking what if, but that is horse racing. He is good at a mile as well, and he has got pace this horse if you look at him travel early. I thought they would go hard today and he would switch off but he didn’t quite. A mile will be no problem. He would run well in a Lincoln.”
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