Kieren Fallon riding Mabait and Daragh O'Donohoe on Rio De La Plata treated racegoers to a thrilling dead-heat in the feature race at Pontefract.
The judge could not separate the pair at the line after a pulsating duel through the final furlong of the Sky Bet Supporting The Yorkshire Racing Festival Pomfret Stakes.
Harrison George led until a furlong out in the Listed contest, where Godolphin's Rio De La Plata (5-2) went on, only to be challenged immediately by Luca Cumani's Mabait (5-1), and the verdict could have gone either way.
Fallon admitted: "I thought I'd won a neck. The other horse was coming back at me, but I thought I'd got it. He keeps progressing. The turning track here suited him and I think he's capable of stepping up again."
O'Donohoe, who was handed a two-day ban for careless riding, said: "He travelled well through the race. The only thing was I would have preferred more juice in the ground. I think he would have won and picked up a lot better."
Fallon struck earlier on Northside Prince (9-2) in the Graham Rock Memorial Handicap, with Alan Swinbank's four-year-old registering his first success in beating Holiday Cocktail by half a length.
Posts
