Watch: Felix de Giles pulls off extraordinary victory after 'quirky' ride forfeits huge amount of ground

Jockey Felix De Giles pulled off the unthinkable at Compiegne as his mount, Iceo Madrik, made up a margin of more than 100 metres to record an unlikely victory.

After three of the seven runners exited the contest at the early stage, Iceo Madrik, who raced five times for David Pipe in Britain, was leading the race on approach to one of the downhill obstacles (Passage de Route) on the cross-country track. The six-year-old stopped before his tracks and allowed his three remaining rivals to take a substantial lead before he continued.

Despite being more than 100 metres behind his rivals, Iceo Madrik caught up with the remaining field and went on to record an impressive win. Even by Felix De Giles's standards, it's a race he will never forget.

He said: "It was a really strange race and I've never had one who has come back from something like 100 to 150 metres behind, so it's a testament to the horse that he was able to catch up.

"My horse knows the track like the back of his hand but he's not the bravest, while the other horses all have very little experience. We came into what is called the Passage de Route and the ground was quite slippy. I've tried to send him down and he wasn't having any of it. He's quite talented but he has a bit of character about him and he has his quirks.

"I didn't want to rush him back into the race and have to sprint to catch the others. My main objective was to have him catch up to them by the time we were back around to the Passage de Route. I had a mile and a bit to get back into it slowly and I was lucky that the horses in front didn't capitalise on me being so far back and I was able to get back into it relatively easily."

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