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George Boughey’s Navello (25/1) showed a tenacious attitude to fend off the Middleham Park-owned pair Silky Wilkie and Clarendon House in a thrilling finish to the Epsom “Dash” Handicap.

As expected, it was fast and frantic for this speedy 5f test with the likes of One Night Stand, Sampers Seven, and Recon Mission all vying for an early spot.

The George Boughey-trained Navello was always nicely positioned behind the leaders and began to work his way into contention approaching the final two furlongs. Clarendon House (17/2), who eventually finished third, struck the front entering the final furlong but was soon pressed on the far side by Navello, who stuck his neck out gamely to prevail from the fast-finishing Silky Wilkie (13/2) by a short-head.

Karl Burke's Silky Wilkie spent much of the straight looking for racing room and was arguably unlucky given the winning margin was only a short-head.

David & Nicola Barron's Zarzyni (17/2) finished a further length behind in fourth.

For trainer George Boughey, this was his second race winner of the Derby Festival. He explained:

"It has been quite a long-term plan for him.

"He likes fast ground, and I thought a stiff pace would probably suit him. It was a bit of a nervy last furlong, but he's progressive. He was still very immature last year; I know he was an early two-year-old, but I was pretty keen to persuade Fiona [Carmichael; Navello's owner] to keep him in training and she bought the other shareholders out, with this race in mind, so it's nice when a plan comes off.

"He was very immature physically, he was still quite up behind and hadn't fully grown - he's not a big horse, but to me he looked immature. He won a race at two last year, but he didn't really go to the heights that I hope he might do this year.

"He travelled a bit better in the cheekpieces this time. He ran on Monday at Windsor in a four-runner race, and I never really thought the race was suited to him, but he was a fresh horse who doesn't do much at home and he did it on the track here.

I don't think there's anything for him at Ascot; we'll probably keep him at five furlongs. There's a race at Goodwood him, and it's quite a similar sort of configuration of track and a fast five downhill with a strong pace will probably suit him, so we'll probably keep him for Goodwood.

"It's been a good couple of days - it's nice to have winners here."

Winning jockey Andrea Atzeni, added:

"We didn't think stall 5 was ideal, but in this sort of race there's nothing you can do, as by the time you try to change something the race is over. We had to take a gamble and see where we landed.

"Obviously they went a good gallop and when he hit the rising ground, he picked up nicely.

"I'd never ridden him before; but I'd watched him plenty of times and he's decent on his day. He won at Thirsk, when they went quick and he was half behind the bridle, and then at Windsor last time it was a small field, and they probably didn't go quick enough for him.

"I had a good one to aim at here in Clarendon House and Dan Muscutt, but when I got to the line, I didn't realise there was another horse near the rail. But I thought I'd won anyway."