Prospect Wells shrugged off a 412-day absence to land the Listed totepool Pontefract Castle Stakes at Pontefract on his first run for the Howard Johnson stable.
Formerly trained by Andre Fabre in France, where his best run was when second in the Group One Grand Prix de Paris two seasons ago, the five-year-old showed reservoirs of stamina under Paul Mulrennan to repel Nanton.
The 9-2 shot looked in trouble as Nanton loomed upsides inside the final furlong under a textbook Kieren Fallon drive, but the odds-on favourite could not get past and went down by half a length.
"He's a star. He had a bad time when he was gelded and we nearly lost him. I've got quite attached to him so I'm very emotional," said Johnson's travelling head lass Rachel Kirtley.
"It's a miracle he's still here. He was skin and bone at one stage, but thankfully once we got him back he's never looked back."
Fallon went one better on Markington (15-8 favourite) in the totesport.com Pontefract Cup.
A winner over hurdles at Aintree just nine days earlier, the Peter Bowen-trained gelding repeated last year's success in this two-and-a-quarter-mile test. However, he was all out to keep Swinging Hawk at bay by a neck.
"It was always the intention to come back here to try and win it again," said Bowen.
"He's improved a bit over hurdles and on the Flat as well. I hope he has or else we might have to run him over fences. We have schooled him at home."
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