Value Bet selection Escobar finished with a flourish to go one better than last year and claim top honours in the Balmoral Handicap on Qipco Champions Day at Ascot.
Beaten three-quarters of a length 12 months ago, David O'Meara's 16-1 chance raced towards the rear of the 20-strong field for much of the straight-mile contest, but moved sweetly through runners once given his head by a confident Adam Kirby.
🤑🤞 Darts fans could win a share of £100,000 if there's a nine-dart finish at the Champions League of Darts.
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) October 19, 2019
🎯🏆 Hopefully they're celebrating Escobar's victory at 16/1 on Champions Day - as advised by our Value Bet tipster @BenLinfoot of course...pic.twitter.com/HLzZCDT34X
Our Value Bet tipster Ben Linfoot had flagged up the horse at 16/1 each-way in Friday's column, writing: "Rated 105 now, you couldn’t argue he’s the best-handicapped horse in the race but he is in great nick and he does love the Ascot straight course and testing ground.
"Last year he traded at 1.12 in-running on Betfair for this very race, as he absolutely tanked through the contest getting loads of cover, before hitting the front and going clear once getting the gap, only for the flying Sharjah Bridge to nail him late in the piece.
"He’s held his form well since then, but is only 3lb higher on Saturday and his last two runs at this track are solid pieces of evidence that he’s in excellent form. The key thing is they were both over seven furlongs, but he’s shaped as though a step back up to a mile will suit, and if Adam Kirby can get him well covered up again, like last year, he could even give the likes of Lord North and Amedeo Modigliani something to think about."
And as it turned out, Kirby began to get to work once switching his mount wide to get a clear run inside the final furlong - and Escobar quickly found top gear to scythe down the leaders and win going away.
The Frankie Dettori-ridden 3-1 favourite Lord North had to make do with the runner-up spot, ahead of Mitchum Swagger and Glen Shiel in third and fourth respectively.
O'Meara was landing the valuable prize for the second time in three years, having struck gold with subsequent Group One winner Lord Glitters in 2017.
The North Yorkshire-based trainer said: "When things drop right he can certainly be better than a handicapper, but they don't always. He's been given a great ride today.
"From his draw (21) we thought we'd come out and take back and go behind them all and ride for a bit of a luck. As it was Adam went out a little across, but he was still on that side.
"I didn't think he'd go on the ground and I thought the draw was against us, so it's a lovely surprise."
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