He's the Gold Cup's Leading Light Hot favourite Leading Light narrowly denied the Queen's defending champion Estimate in a pulsating climax to the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. Last year's Queen's Vase and St Leger hero Leading Light was all the rage for the two-and-a-half-mile Group One, having made a winning return to action in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan last month. The four-year-old was under the pump from the home turn in the hands of Joseph O'Brien, son of trainer Aidan, but stuck to his guns admirably to fend off Estimate by a neck, with the front-running Missunited a gallant third. Joseph O'Brien said: "When you win it is always a good ride, there's no such thing as a bad winning ride. I kept a straight line, Ryan (Moore, on Estimate) was looking for a bit of room but I was entitled to keep a straight line. "He had a little look when he got to the front and then went a bit to his left, he's a big, lazy horse but I think he's better at a mile and six. "I was rowing away on him but I had loads left, I was trying to hold off asking for everything for as long as I could. Ryan gave me a bit of help by coming up my inside as he pushed me along a bit - this fellow is as tough as nails." Aidan O'Brien, winning the race for the sixth time, said: "He's idle, but he was in a lovely position and settled well. "He was very lazy when he got there. Joseph was trying to keep him with company. "We were worried about two and half miles as he's out of a Queen Mary winner. He's a horse we thought could go back to a King George maybe, but he was up there for the last half a mile and after two miles you never know what is going to happen. "I'm so lucky to have the horses and work with the people that I do, I'm in a very lucky position and the lads have unbelievable horses with unbelievable pedigrees and it (Ballydoyle) is an unbelievable place to train from." John Warren, the Queen's racing advisor, said of Estimate: "It was tremendous, she was so brave and the Queen got such pleasure from it. "Ryan said it was a career-best. Having no prep, everything was against her so to run so well was tremendous."
