Doyle on the double at Yorkshire Racecourse

Dubai - The Dubai-based jockey wins the Melrose Handicap and the Group 2 City Of York Stakes

UAE-based jockey James Doyle clinched a double, including a Group 2 winner, on the fourth and final day of the Ebor horse racing festival at the Yorkshire Racecourse on Saturday.
The 31-year-old Briton, the stable jockey for Dubai-based racing operation Godolphin, won the Sky Bet Melrose Handicap onboard the William Haggas-trained Hamish and then followed it up half hour later, stepping in for the injured Silverstre De Sousa, to land the Group 2 Sky Bet City Of York Stakes with Shine So Bright.
Meanwhile, Godolphin agonizingly missed out on a win, with the Saeed bin Suroor-saddled Red Galileo pipped to the post by Mustajeer in the Ebor Handicap.
The afternoon had begun with the Ahmed Alotaibi-owned Zaaki winning the Group 3 Sky Bet And Symphony Group Strensall Stakes in thrilling fashion, by a neck, over the Doyle-ridden Bangkok.
But Doyle was not to be denied in the next race, with the King's Stand Stakes and Diamond Jubilee Stakes winner, notching victory with Hamish in the Sky Bet Melrose Handicap.
Doyle, who stepped in at the last minute after De Sousa suffered a fall from Alnadir at Chelmsford on Friday, more than made up for the Brazilian's absence by nicking the win in dramatic fashion, with Shine So Bright edging it by a nose, over Laurens.
In the process, the three-year-old colt from Oasis Dream, erased the 21-year-old course record of 1:21.31 seconds set by the Henry Cecil-trained Bold Fact.
It was also Andrew Balding's fourth victory in the contest run over seven furlongs with the handler's previous wins coming Vanderlin in 2003, Dream Eater in 2009 and Absolutely So in 2014.
Balding's wife Anna Lisa, who represented him, told the Racing Post: "I dreamed he was going to stay on and he did, he's run a hell of a race and James has given him a fantastic ride. It's obviously sad Silvestre is not here for it but all credit to James."
james@khaleejtimes.com