Plan comes together in Casablanca with bloodstock agent Toby Jones landing international prize

A well-hatched plan came together in Casablanca on Saturday when British bloodstock agent Toby Jones and his father Peter recorded a one-two in the Grand Prix des Proprietaires.

Black Gangster stretched six lengths clear of his stablemate Bruant, trained by Nicholas Perret in France, to land the €61,500 contest, one of four thoroughbred races open to foreign runners on the opening day of the Morocco International meeting at Anfa racecourse.

"We came here last year and thought we had a really big chance before being caught on the line – even the cameraman thought we'd won," said Peter Jones. "My wife saw a photo of the amazing saddle trophies and told me to come back this year to win one. Our other two runners today were drawn too wide but these two had the perfect position throughout."

The thoroughbred-only card included the penultimate leg of the World Fegentri Championship for Lady Riders, in which amateur jockeys compete in a number of legs globally. Serena Brotherton, representing Britain at the age of 54, was third in the rankings heading into the weekend but could only manage second behind the series leader, Sweden's Elin Hedman. 

"This series is an amazing opportunity for somebody like me to ride in all these incredible places," said Brotherton, who has landed major amateur races at York and Ascot this year. "It's really fun. It's slightly upsetting I can't win it now because Elin has too many points but I could be second. I was our representative in 2003 and I feel lucky to have been involved again."

European runners, primarily from the south of France, were well represented in the four international races and the second-most valuable of them, the €61,500 Grand Prix des Eleveurs for three-year-old fillies, was won by Lady Aida for Spanish trainer Francisco Jimenez and jockey Vaclav Janacek.

However, the feature international race, the €123,000 Grand Prix de la Sorec, Morocco's leg of the middle-distance Defi du Galop series, went to the home team with Shining Dawn prompting a rapturous response from the crowd after scoring by three and a half lengths.

Sunday's Purebred Arabian fixture was highlighted by the Group 2 Prix Sa Majeste Roi Mohammed VI, won by Ghasham, while the Group 3 Prix du Prince Heritier Moulay Al Hassan, went the way of Al Mambir Fal.

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