BRAVEHEART

Balding delight as gelding lands Group One success

- by DAVID YATES

NEVER SO BRAVE completed his rise to the top for a history-making triumph in the Sky Bet City Of York Stakes.

The 10-runner contest represented a first for British racing - the first time a seven-furlong race in this country has carried Group One status.

Rosallion, already a three-time winner at the highest level, was sent off the even-money favourite but the Richard Hannon-trained four-year-old never looked comfortable from his wide draw.

Instead it was Never So Brave, who switched to Andrew Balding (below) upon the retirement last year of Sir Michael Stoute, and Oisin Murphy - the jockey was landing his second Group One within 24 hours after Asfoora's Nunthorpe Stakes success on Friday - who took the spoils with a battling half-length success from Lake Forest.