Dragon Leader wins William Hill Two Year Old Trophy at Redcar for Clive Cox and Richard Kingscote

Sent off the 4/7 favourite in the 10-strong field for the Listed contest, Dragon Leader was caught wide in the centre of the track from his draw in stall 10.

Kingscote could be seen pushing and shoving aboard the son of El Kabeir while Action Point and Works Of Art, owned by The King, appeared to be going much more easily on his inside.

However, the further they went the better Dragon Leader began to travel and Kingscote was able to sit up before passing the line with the race won more than a shade cosily.

Three lengths was the distance back to Works Of Art with Action Point another length and a quarter adrift.

"Clive (Cox, trainer) has campaigned him beautifully this year," Kingscote told Racing TV.

"He's a sweet likeable horse, getting weight off a lot of them was a big help and he's won some nice pots this year. He's proved professional, speaking to Ryan and William earlier in the week, they both said he'll get seven no problem and he felt like that to me as well, he'd be looking like he'd be needing seven now to be honest.

"They were taking me off my feet a bit up to halfway but to be fair, once I got a flick into him he responded very well, showed a good gear; he's done it very well."

Sam Hoskins, representing owners Kennet Valley, said: "We are just thrilled, he's won a lot of prize money this season and we're very lucky. Clive and his team have done a wonderful job.

"We were very aware that the draw possibly wasn't ideal and he's done it the hard way and guttsed it out; we're just over the moon."

The track's other Listed contest on the card, the Racing TV EBF Stallions Guisborough Stakes, saw a dramatic finish as Vafortino (9/2) edged out Ramazaan.

Trained by Kevin Phillipart De Foy, Vafortino was stuck behind horses passing the two furlong pole and didn't get daylight until inside the final furlong, by which point Ramazan was already making the best of his way home.

Vafortino responded well to David Allan's urgings to hit the front on the line, winning by the narrowest of margins with the pair clear of the third.

Allan said: "It was a bit of a disaster trying to get out!"

Oisin Orr may have been ruing his luck on Ramazan but his fortunes quickly turned for the better in the next race as he partnered Painters Palette (7/2 favourite) to success in the valuable SDDE Smith Group Straight-Mile Series Final Handicap for trainer Rebecca Menzies.

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org