33-1 Breege causes major shock in City of York as John Gosden explains odds-on Audience's underperformance

Breege breezed to a shock success in the Sky Bet City of York Stakes, but that did not tell even half of the race's drama.

The Group 2 was not on the four-year-old's radar until the start of the week, when her trainers John and Sean Quinn decided they could not resist the temptation of trying to pick up a slice of the £500,000 prize-money on offer.

Their chances of doing so were made slightly easier when hat-trick-seeker Kinross was scratched on raceday morning, and increased even more when second favourite Lake Forest was withdrawn with seconds to go after getting unruly in the stalls. Even then, taking on odds-on favourite Audience still looked a formidable task.

However, the Lockinge and Lennox hero took a keen hold and weakened inside the final furlong after hitting the front in the home straight. This left Breege to pick up the pieces – and a healthy first prize of £283,550 – to justify the Quinns' leap of faith.

"We worked her on Monday morning and she went particularly well. John said to me that's the best he's ever seen her work," Sean Quinn said. "This wasn't the plan at that stage, but he said let's take her down the road as there's a heap of money on offer and let's try to get as much of it as we can.

"She was our first Group winner after we joined up on the licence and to do that today was pretty special. It doesn't matter whether my name is also on the licence or not, it's just important for the whole yard to be competitive on the big days."

Audience (blue cap) got upset in the stalls pre-raceCredit: Edward Whitaker

It was a second big-race win in as many rides for the Quinn yard for Colin Keane, who deputised for their main rider Jason Hart. It came nearly four years after striking in a Group 2 on Safe Voyage on Irish Champions Weekend. 

Hart is expected to be back on board next time, which could be for a tilt at the highest level at Longchamp on Arc weekend in October.

Sean Quinn added: "We've had a lot of luck with Colin when we've given him the leg-up. Unfortunately it didn't work out for Jason as he went to Goodwood to ride a favourite for us in a Group race, where it didn't pan out so well.

"All the big seven-furlong races are on the table now. She's not in the Prix de la Foret, but we might have to speak about supplementing her. She's won a hell of a lot of prize-money today, so there's a bit of fat on our backs now."

Fellow outsider Vafortino finished second ahead of Shouldvebeenaring in third. Audience was a two-and-three-quarter-length fourth, with joint-trainer John Gosden citing the incident in the stalls as the reason for the favourite's below-par performance.

He said: "He got upset in the stalls and he struck the front of them a couple of times when the other one reared up. Rab [Havlin] said he wasn't himself after that; he wouldn't let down at all."

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