King Of Cities secures Strensall crown

King Of Cities narrowly outpointed Boiling Point to provide owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid with a one-two in the Sky Bet Strensall Stakes at York.

A quality field of eight runners went to post for the Group Three opener on the fourth and final day of the Ebor Festival, with the William Haggas-trained Bullet Point the 9-4 favourite to make it two wins on the Knavesmire this week following a lucrative handicap success on Thursday.

Boiling Point set out to make all the running, with Bullet Point and King Of Cities his nearest pursuers – and while the market leader weakened when push came to shove, the Richard Hannon-trained 11-1 shot King Of Cities came home strongly under Sean Levey to get up by a head.

Skukuza, who was ridden with more restraint, was finishing best of all and was only a neck further behind in third, with Bullet Point faltering into seventh.

Hannon said: “We’ve always thought a lot of this horse but he has been a bit wayward on occasions, but it was Sheikh Mohammed Obaid’s idea to run him over this trip.

“He missed the break again but that might have worked in his favour today as the plan was to make the running – I’m delighted.

“He’s nearly won a lot of money so his owner will be very pleased as he’s a home bred – we ran him in the French Derby.

“This was a ‘win and you’re in’ for the Bahrain International and I’ll speak to his owner to see what he wants to do, he’d certainly have no issues with the travelling.

“He’s got a big future, he’s all about next year.

“We’ll see where we go next, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid will make the call and he was adamant about stepping him up in trip – and he was right.

“He’s a good horse. He’s by that stallion Dubawi, I don’t know if you’ve heard of him but he’s got a future!”