Malhub wins Golden Jubilee Stakes at Ascot

Malhub shrugged off the effects of two wind operations to win the grand finale to the five days of the Royal Ascot meeting, the Golden Jubilee Stakes.

But last year's champion two-year-old, Johannesburg, may have run his last race, having trailed home ninth of the 13 runners.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained colt was an uneasy favourite before the start of the £270,000 Group One contest and turned in a bitterly disappointing display.

It was a far cry from last year's glory days where Johannesburg was unbeaten in seven starts, culminating in an amazing victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

At the same time as Johannesburg had been scaling the heights, Malhub was recovering from the effects of an operation he was given after running down the field in the St James's Palace Stakes at this meeting 12 months ago.

The Hamdan Al Maktoum-owned son of Kingmambo was then given another "little touch-up" this February, winning trainer John Gosden revealed.

"He has always had a soft palate, since he was a baby," said Gosden.

"All credit to his owner - a lot of owners would have said 'I'm not running a hospital, sell him', but Sheikh Hamdan, who bred this horse, said 'If you think he needs another operation then give the horse whatever he needs'. He always had faith.

"I wildly entered him for a Group One sprint three months ago and then gave him a run at Yarmouth last week to see where we were. He beat the track record and I thought we ought to go for it.

"He's a proper horse and a good sprinter although I wouldn't want him to drop back to five furlongs.

"The July Cup is the obvious race for him. He's run well at Newmarket before. But the one thing he does require is fast ground."

Kevin Darley, who was completing an 84-1 double on the day, always had the winner at the head of affairs and when he asked him to quicken a furlong out, Malhub pulled away to beat Danehurst and Three Points.

"I said to Kevin that he should stick to the middle and just bowl along," said Gosden.

"The worse thing you can do with a horse that has had breathing problems is to try and take hold of him.

"We used to have a good association together and I was delighted when I found out that he was available. I only got him here because Sheikh Hamdan's first two jockeys, Richard Hills and Willie Supple, chose to ride his other horses!"