Four-star Yeats grabs gold again

YEATS ensured his place in the pantheon of racing greats as he became the first horse to register four glorious victories in the Ascot Gold Cup yesterday.

Since its inauguration in 1807, only Yeats and Sagaro in the 1970s had managed to visit the winner’s enclosure three times, but Aidan O’Brien’s veteran broke the mold in emotional scenes under Johnny Murtagh.

Faith in the old warrior had wavered after his defeat on bottomless ground in April, although the bookmakers had kept him on their side and the eight-year-old was always to the fore of the ante-post market.