Thrilling dead-heat in Ladbroke Philip Hobbs' Sternrubin and Harry Fry's Jolly's Cracked It dead-heated in a thrilling renewal of The Ladbroke at Ascot. The former, trained by Philip Hobbs, looked beaten late on once Jolly's Cracked It (9-1) went into overdrive after the last flight. But 7-1 joint-favourite Sternrubin, who had set a scorching pace under Richard Johnson, somehow battled back for once last lunge to cross the line in unison with Harry Fry's inmate. Renneti and Some Plan finished third and fourth respectively. Hobbs said: "It's always a worry when they go off that fast. I must say that when he jumped the second-last I thought he would be OK. "For the horse to come back up on the run-in is something you don't see often. He showed that he is very tough and we are pleased with him. "It is as good as result we could have hoped for in the circumstances. "Where we go from here, I don't know as this was the aim. He is still a novice so we have got that option as well." Fry said: "I thought we had won it then the other horse came back again. He run a career-best but Noel (Fehily) thought that he had been robbed on the line. "The longer it went on the more hopeful we thought it would be a dead-heat. It's a great result all round for both us and Philip Hobbs. "He had the course form and we wanted to come back here after his reappearance in October. Noel gave him a peach of a ride. "This was the plan for the season to stick over hurdles and come back here for The Ladbroke with him having won two novice hurdles round here last year and for it to come off is brilliant."
