Witch Hunter swoops for Hungerford Stakes glory

Surprise Royal Ascot winner follows up in Group Two company at Newbury.

Witch Hunter added to his Royal Ascot gains when coming with a flying late run to win the BetVictor Hungerford Stakes at Newbury.

Always highly regarded, it has taken the Richard Hannon-trained four-year-old until now to finally start delivering on the undoubted promise those closest to him knew he possessed.

He has certainly been busy during the past nine months, having had a full season on the all-weather before reappearing in the Lincoln.

Sean Levey with Witch Hunter
Sean Levey with Witch Hunter (PA)

After that he was second on All-Weather Finals Day and since then he has been relatively consistent, with the highlight being a brave Jamie Spencer ride to win the Buckingham Palace Stakes at Ascot when 50-1.

Sent off 12-1 on this occasion, his stablemate Chindit was expected to prove tough to beat, but the 2-1 favourite found little when asked for an effort by Pat Dobbs and was only third.

New Endeavour looked to have seen them all off until Witch Hunter was produced last of all by Sean Levey and he won going away by a length.

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