Racing: Mackay meets Criterion for success

Jamie Mackay did his embryonic career as a senior jockey no harm at all here yesterday as he took the Criterion Stakes by a short-head on Atavus. The little 19-year-old has always been one of the most sought-after apprentices, but lost his right to claim an allowance two weeks ago and the annals of the turf are littered with the names of promising youngsters who failed to bridge the gap. But if this effort is a guide, Mackay's will not be among them.

He certainly had a willing partner in the tough five-year-old Atavus, but he judged each of the seven furlongs to perfection, setting off in front at a steady enough pace to unsettle the hard-tugging odds-on shot Tillerman and keeping just enough in reserve to regain the lead in the shadow of the post after King Of Happiness had headed Atavus inside the last half furlong.

That final floating lunge earned the pair their second Group Three success together, after the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury last year, and the jockey had no doubts about the horse's contribution to the partnership. "He's unbelievable," he said, "the gamest one I've ever ridden. He just keeps sticking his neck out."

The winning trainer, George Margarson, was inclined to give the man on top credit too. "He rode the exact race we planned," he said. "The horse loves a rail to run against and to defy them to get past. I told Jamie to just keep a little back in case anything came at him at the end and he couldn't have done it better."

In the view of the stewards, Jimmy Fortune, on King Of Happiness, could have. Fortune was given a three-day ban for misuse of the whip on the Sir Michael Stoute-trained three-year-old.

Atavus had finished last in the Group Two Queen Anne Stakes over a mile at Royal Ascot 12 days ago, with two of his Criterion rivals – the Ascot runner-up Tillerman and sixth-placed Umistim – ahead of him. But the shorter distance was much more to his taste. "He was carried wide by Best Of The Bests at Ascot and never really got competitive but, really, he's a seven-furlong specialist," explained the locally based Margarson, "and he's a fair tool on fast ground. I'd love to win a Group One with him, but there aren't that many over his trip."

The next target for Atavus, who notched the second leg of a 43-1 treble on the day for his trainer and jockey after two-year-old Our Teddy in the opener, is likely to be in handicap company, the £150,000 Tote International at Ascot on King George day.

The day's richest contest and, indeed, the most valuable two-mile handicap in the Northern hemisphere – only the Melbourne Cup is worth more worldwide – was the £140,000 Northumberland Plate at Newcastle. This, too, went down to the wire as 8-1 shot Bangalore made his 334-mile journey from Amanda Perrett's yard in West Sussex worthwhile when he and Seb Sanders thwarted the 3-1 favourite, Mr Dinos, by a head after a desperate duel during the final quarter mile. In a finish that was not so much blanket as handkerchief, Zibeline (25-1) came home strongly for third, half a length away, with Hugs Dancer (12-1) and Travelmate (10-1) dead-heating for fourth just behind.

Sanders said of the white-faced chestnut winner: "This horse is as tough as nails, he's one you fancy in a battle every time. I was always quietly confident that I'd outpeg the other one by the line."

At the Curragh yesterday, there was a double for Newmarket stables in the feature contests. The Stoute team warmed up for Balakheri's Irish Derby tilt today when Daliapour beat fellow raider Boreas two lengths in the Curragh Cup. And the filly Tarfshi, trained by Michael Jarvis, gained a half-length defeat of Wrong Key in the Pretty Polly Stakes.

After this afternoon's events in Ireland and France, the next Group One stop on the European circuit is the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown on Saturday. But the Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor hinted that one of the leaders of the older generation, Grandera, may bypass a clash with the Derby runner-up, Hawk Wing, in favour of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the end of the month.