APPRENTICE jockey Charlie Bennett was thrilled as East Ilsley trainer Hughie Morrison’s veteran campaigner Pastoral Player rolled back the years to land the Bombardier Brighton Mile Challenge Trophy at the Sussex track.

Winner of a Group 3 contest at Haydock in 2013, the 11-year-old swooped late for a half-length success over Tigerwolf at 16-1.

“He is unreal,” said Bennett. “He has been a really good horse in my career. He has shown all the enthusiasm at home, but he has just not been firing for whatever reason.”

The East Ilsley handler enjoyed further success when Compton Mill claimed a mile and a quarter amateur riders’ handicap at Sandown in the hands of Serena Brotherton.

West Ilsley-based jockey Charlie Bishop was inclined to dismiss Accidental Agent’s disappointing run in the Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois at Deauville for Eve Johnson Houghton’s Blewbury stables, near Didcot.

The four-year-old, who gave the trainer and jockey an emotional first Royal Ascot winner when springing a 33-1 surprise in the Queen Anne Stakes in June, trailed in tenth behind impressive winner Alpha Centauri after a slow start.

Bishop said: “He was never going at any stage. That isn’t his true form.”

Johnson Houghton and Bishop enjoyed better fortune on these shores, when Buckingham repeated last month’s course-and-distance success at Chelmsford City by defying a double penalty to take a six-furlong novice auction stakes.

Blewbury neighbour Noel Williams, who is better known as a jumps trainer, notched his first Flat winner this year when Percy Prosecco scored at Windsor.

The three-year-old, ridden by Rob Hornby, pipped Safarhi, trained by Williams’s old boss, Alan King, by a neck in an extended mile-and-three-furlong handicap.

West Ilsley trainer Mick Channon was also on the mark at Windsor with Macho Mover, while Henry Candy sent out Katie Lee from his Wantage yard to spring a 16-1 surprise at Kempton.