Hartnell claims dramatic Queen's Vase Hartnell gave Mark Johnston his seventh victory in the Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot after surviving a stewards' inquiry. Joe Fanning had the 7-2 chance in the perfect position throughout, just behind the leaders, but when Marzocco and Century moved up to challenge on the home bend the rider had to sit and suffer for a few strides to wait for a gap. When it came Hartnell shot clear, yet just as it looked as if the race was over he began to idle and drifted off the rail. Century, for Aidan and Joseph O'Brien, was coming with a powerful late run and the two came together just before the line, with a neck separating them, and the stewards were forced to look into the interference before the placings were announced as unaltered. The two-mile contest for three-year-olds has been a good trial for the Gold Cup in recent years, with Estimate and Leading Light both going on to bigger things after winning this Listed prize. A decent two-year-old last year, the winner was slightly disappointing at Epsom first time out but ran a fine race when second to Snow Sky in the Lingfield Derby Trial. Johnston said: "I was choking a bit there. There weren't too many anxious moments during the race, but I was anxious when he veered across in the last half-furlong. I couldn't see which hand Joe had his stick in, so I was very worried. Joe said he felt he'd rode within the rules. Hopefully it's the right decision. I think it is. "It's very unusual for a gap to open up on the rail as easily as it did, but when it came he shot through it. "That (the St Leger) is definitely the target. Whether he'll run in between now and then, I don't know, but that was the target before the race."
