Potemkin holds on to Gerard victory

Potemkin survived a 25-minute stewards` inquiry to take the £40,000 Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown today.

Disappointingly the Group Three contest had cut up to leave just four runners chasing the spoils but the finish still provided plenty of talking points.

Dane O`Neill, who was riding the middle leg of a 110-1 treble, brought the 7-2 chance through on the outside of his rivals to lead over a furlong from the finish.

But no sooner had Potemkin gone to the front, he hung violently right, hampering both Tarfshi and Imperial Dancer.

With the two market leaders knocked out of the contest, it was left to French raider The Mask to throw down the only challenge to Potemkin, who held on by a length with the same distance back to Imperial Dancer, who recovered his footing to finish an unlucky third.

Winning trainer Richard Hannon, who was also completing a double, is eyeing the Group One Gran Premio di Milano in a fortnight`s time for Potemkin.

'They got to the front and then he just got tired,' he said. 'It looked worse than it was. I had a race taken off me the other day which I never should have done so this is poetic justice!'

The Mask`s trainer Antonio Spanu had brought his charge over to get experience of racing behind a faster pace and he could be seen again on these shores in the coming months.

The six-year-old`s ultimate target is the Prix de l`Arc de Triomphe.

Hannon`s hand for the juvenile races at Royal Ascot looks as strong as ever.

He must have a live contender for the Queen Mary Stakes in Presto Vento, who showed an impressive turn of foot to win the Betfair.com National Stakes.

O`Neill completed the treble when Rainbow End took the scalp of 1,000,000-guineas purchase Shami in the first division of the Esher Maiden Stakes.