Horse racing: Hanagan champion again | Goldi locked out of last Mile win by late surge

PAUL Hanagan retained his Flat jockeys’ championship title on the final afternoon as Silvestre De Sousa’s last-ditch glory bid fell short.

The best De Sousa could have hoped for was to share the honours after a four-timer on Friday left him four wins behind. However, the Brazilian had just four booked rides at Doncaster and, when he finished last on True Bond in the Betfred Mobile Nursery, it became impossible for him to catch the Warrington-born champion.

“It’s a big relief. It feels like a big weight has been lifted and it’s gone right down to the wire again,” said Hanagan, who ended the campaign on 165 winners to De Sousa’s 161.

Meanwhile, Goldikova finished a gallant third on the final start of her career in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, won by huge outsider Court Vision, at Churchill Downs, Kentucky.

Three times a winner of the showpiece event, Olivier Peslier’s mount was the subject of an objection after her rider manoeuvred off the rail, but the placings remained unaltered.

Once in the clear, Freddie Head’s Goldikova held every chance but in the end had no answer as Court Vision and Turallure flashed past the post together.

After an anxious wait, the Dale Romans-trained Court Vision was given the verdict, in the process becoming the second-biggest priced winner ever at the Breeders’ Cup at 64/1

Earlier, 18-year-old Joseph O’Brien became the youngest jockey to win a Breeders’ Cup race when he piloted Irish raider St Nicholas Abbey to an easy victory in the $3m Turf Saturday.

O’Brien is the son of St Nicholas Abbey trainer Aidan O’Brien, who claimed his second Breeders’ Cup race of the day after winning the Juvenile Turf earlier with Wrote. St Nicholas Abbey took the lead in the stretch and hit the wire two and one-quarter lengths ahead of English raider Sea Moon. Brilliant Speed finished third in the field of nine.

“It’s a dream come true,” said the younger O’Brien. “Obviously, looking at all the big names and the big horses winning the best races around the world, it’s something that you dream about since I was very small.”

St Nicholas Abbey, who won comfortably by two and a quarter lengths, was priced at 68/10.

“He jumped good out of the start,” said the jockey. “He had a nice position. He travelled very well. I got the gaps when they needed to come.”