Sri Putra wins Emirates NBD Cup

Sri Putra dished out weight and a beating to his 10 rivals in the Emirates NBD Cup.

Despite showing traits of quirkiness at the business end, Michael Jarvis’ three-year-old produced a laudable performance from the summit of the handicap.

The 12-1 shot hung left and appeared to idle slightly once Peking Prince and Espiritu made their respective challenges inside the final furlong.

Philip Robinson refused to surrender, however, and had half a length in hand of Peking Prince at the line.

Robinson said: “He’s been off for a long while so Michael has brought him back slowly. Even though I got to the front, I was saving a bit more for when I needed it. I was confident I was going to find some more, but I didn’t know how much.

“It’s a very good performance off that weight.”

Ian Balding, representing Peking Prince's trainer Andrew Balding, said: ``He travelled so well through the race but didn't find much at the end. It was a great performance by the winner carrying all of that weight.”

Barry Simpson, racing manager for Espiritu’s owner Robert Ogden, said: “He’s proving a little difficult to win with as he’s hugely talented. We’ll try something different with him next time but I’m not sure where we’ll go next.”