Masked is Leger marvel

Masked Marvel presented John Gosden and William Buick with back-to-back victories in the Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster.

Following on from Arctic Cosmos 12 months ago, the 15-2 chance was always travelling well behind a strong early pace.

Seville hit the front two furlongs out but Buick refused to panic and bided his time.

Masked Marvel quickly put distance between himself and the rest as Brown Panther ran on from the rear to take second with favourite Sea Moon a never-nearer third.

Gosden said: ``From the day I saw him as a yearling in Deauville, I thought he was a Leger type and he's grown and developed. He was a powerful little guy then and he's got a great pedigree for this job.

“He’s done nothing wrong all his life and he won well at Goodwood and then the July meeting and his owner allowed me to back off him and come here nice and fresh so we had a lovely horse for the autumn.

“To win the oldest Classic with this horse is what we’ve planned for about two years.

“He’s got a high cruising speed and I told William to settle where you’re happy and not to attack too soon as there is a strong headwind.

“He’s a proper horse and I’d have been shocked if he wasn’t in the three.”

Buick said: ``It was a really good performance and I had a problem pulling him up.

“I thought I was going to have to give him a big kick but then he came good at the three-and-a-half marker.

“I tried to keep the revs up and when I went, he killed the rest off – he’s an improving horse.

“He stays well but the mile-and-a-half races can’t be ruled out.

“It was a solid gallop, as you would expect, and when I asked him to quicken he really did.”

Footballer Michael Owen, owner of Brown Panther, said: ``I'm very proud of him.

“I was always confident he would run well as Tom (Dascombe) had him in top form.

“Kieren (Fallon) said he might have been feeling the ground a bit and he will be a better horse with more juice in the ground. He’s a dream horse for me.”

Dascombe added: “That’s it for the season now as he has surpassed all our expectations. I would guess he would return at Chester’s May meeting but I haven’t spoken to Michael yet.”

Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for the owner of Sea Moon, Khalid Abdullah, said: “Things did not go particularly to plan and he did not have the clearest of runs.

“I would guess that he would probably now revert to either a mile and a half or even 10 furlongs. Either way, it’s far from the end of the road.”