Givalletto (7/2) won the Boodles Yorkshire Cup for a second successive year, pulling clear of a strong field on the Knavesmire.
It appeared to be a deeper renewal of the Group 2 but race favourite Tower Of London failed to fire, never out of last place, with Gregory another that failed to play a significant role.
Vauban, having his first start since the Melbourne Cup, jumped smartly under William Buick who was content to allow the perennial front-runner Al Qareem to go on. Vauban then raced in a share of second with Naqeeb on his outside.
Vauban moved easily up the inside of Al Qareem as that one weakened but Oisin Murphy, aboard the winner, had made very smooth progress through the field to join Vauban at the head of affairs.
Murphy oozed confidence alongside Vauban, even having time to look over his shoulder for non-existent dangers before asking Giavellotto to go and win his race and the five-year-old responded, quickening clear to put the race to bed in a matter of strides.
The winning distance was four and three quarter lengths with Vauban taking second in a race in which surprisingly few got involved although Gregory did, belatedly, find his stride to finish on the heels of the runner-up.
Giavellotto was selected at 7/1 by both Matt Brocklebank and Ben Linfoot in their respective columns.
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Murphy told Racing TV: “He was fantastic. He relaxed really well and Marco Botti is doing a brilliant job campaigning him; his horses are flying, he had a Group 3 winner last Saturday and this fellow today and a whole host of horses running well.
“This is Andrea Atzeni’s ride and he told me what to do on him so thanks to Andrea and I hope he keeps kicking in the winners in Hong Kong.”
When asked about looking over his shoulder Murphy explained his thought process, saying: “”I didn’t want to get there early and Ryan to come cantering past me so I just wanted to check where Tower Of London was.
“I felt like we rode along but we didn’t go crazy fast and I was concerned that my move upsides William was going to play into a closer’s hands.”
Giavellotto bypassed Royal Ascot last year and he is not entered in the Gold Cup this term either, with Marco Botti feeling the two-and-a-half-mile trip is too far for his charge.
He said: “He loves the track, fortunately, he always shows his best form at York. Earlier in the week I thought the ground might be a problem because we know he acts on fast ground best and the forecast didn’t look great, but we’ve been lucky with the rain.
“The race went to plan, he got into a nice rhythm and while he got to the front a little sooner than we wanted, he galloped all the way to the line.
“It’s good to be back and it’s a race that suits him, the track is perfect. We’ve tried several times over two miles and while I’m not saying he doesn’t stay, because he has run well a few times, but it does stretch him. The Gold Cup trip is too far for him.
“I’ll need to discuss with the owners but the plan was not to go to Ascot. The Irish St Leger I know is in September and the ground could be softer, but it was a race we considered last year and we didn’t go but I would say that could be his target. I doubt we’ll go to Ascot.
“He put it to bed very easily today but the track suits him well and Oisin gave him a great ride, he was in a lovely rhythm and he picked up well. I was a bit shocked he was in front so early, he made them look slow today.
“We have been thinking of running him over a mile and a half eventually, we wouldn’t rule it out. Between a mile and a half and two miles, I think I’d rather run him over shorter than further. He’s definitely got stronger.”
Vauban is entered for the Gold Cup and Buick felt it was a good starting point for the campaign.
He said: “I was delighted, they’ll be very happy with that. He’s going to get further and he felt he was going to improve for that, so there are plenty of positives to take from it.”
Ascot is the next port of call for Gregory, who won the Queen’s Vase at the meeting last year.
Joint-trainer John Gosden said: “I really liked the way he got his second wind and stayed on again. The plan is to go straight to the Gold Cup. He’ll enjoy the distance.”
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