William Buick moved to within one of riding 2,000 winners in Britain after steering Coltrane to victory in the Coral Marathon Ladies’ Day at Sandown Park on Friday.

Buick was hoping to complete the milestone in the afternoon after securing four rides at the Esher track, however the two-time champion jockey had to wait until the sixth race of the afternoon to nudge ever closer to the magic mark.

The gelded son of Mastercraftsman previously won this contest in 2022 and just held off the challenge of Al Nayyir to win by a short-head.

Trainer Andrew Balding said: “That was thoroughly well deserved. He’s been a bit of a star and that has taken his earnings over £1 million.

“He has been the horse of a lifetime really. He loves it here and has loved his racing this year. He was a little bit inconsistent last season but has been in great form this year.

“He’s not in at Goodwood and I think we will probably wait and look at Doncaster with him now and then his swansong will either be at Ascot or in the Cadran.”

Coltrane’s success brought up £1 million in prize money for the gelding and a treble on the card for Balding who also saw Windlord and Kassaya get their head in front to complete a near 30-1 treble for the Kingsclere trainer and a double for both Colin Keane and Juddmonte.

In the £45,000 Listed Davis Insurance Gala Stakes, run over the same course as the Coral-Eclipse, it was Juddmonte’s Dubai colt Windlord who got up on the line to score by the minimum distance of a nose from longtime leader Caviar Heights.

Andrew Balding said: “I know Caviar Heights very well as I bought him as a yearling and trained him as a two-year-old. He is very tough so I wasn’t convinced we were going to get past him but Colin gave him a terrific ride and all credit to the horse. He showed real desire and he’s previously been asked to do something (pace-making) that wasn’t ideal for him so it’s nice for him to win a race in his own right.”

The same combination was also successful in the previous race with Kassaya taking the Battaash Handicap.

Elsewhere on the card, Staya got up in the closing strides to prevail by a head in the five-furlong £30,000 Listed 50 Years Together Coral Dragon Stakes. The two-year-old Havana Grey filly, trained by George Scott, has now made it two wins from three starts.

Pendragon defied a ten-pound penalty to make it three wins in a row after lifting the finale with Luke Morris doing the steering for Sir Mark Prescott.

Five unraced two-year-olds lined up for the Class Two Tattersalls Novice Stakes with Pacifica Pier coming with a late run to get up on the line to win by half a length with James Doyle aboard for Charlie Appleby.

By Peter Moore