Masked Marvel springs St Leger surprise

Masked Marvel presented John Gosden and William Buick with back-to-back victories in the Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster, upsetting Blue Bunting's attempt to bring home the final Classic of the British racing season for Godolphin.Following on from Arctic Cosmos 12 months ago, Masked Marvel was always travelling well behind a strong early pace. Seville hit the front two furlongs out, but Buick refused to panic and bided his time. Masked Marvel quickly put distance between himself and the rest as Brown Panther ran on from the rear to take second with favourite Sea Moon, owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, a never-nearer third."From the day I saw him as a yearling in Deauville, I thought he was a Leger type, and he's grown and developed," said Gosden, the trainer. "He was a powerful little guy then, and he's got a great pedigree for this job."He's done nothing wrong all his life, and he won well at Goodwood and then the July meeting, and his owner allowed me to back off him and come here nice and fresh, so we had a lovely horse for the autumn. "To win the oldest Classic with this horse is what we've planned for about two years. "He's got a high cruising speed ,and I told [jockey] William [Buick]to settle where you're happy and not to attack too soon as there is a strong headwind. "He's a proper horse and I'd have been shocked if he wasn't in the three." Buick added: "It was a really good performance, and I had a problem pulling him up. "I thought I was going to have to give him a big kick, but then he came good at the three-and-a-half marker. I tried to keep the revs up, and when I went, he killed the rest off. "He's an improving horse. "He stays well but the mile-and-a-half races can't be ruled out. It was a solid gallop, as you would expect, and when I asked him to quicken he really did." Blue Bunting, with jockey Frankie Dettori aboard, started from the sixth spot, got a bad break at the start but started pushing five furlongs in. Although she closed on the leaders she never looked comfortable, finishing seventh.