Godolphin unknowingly pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the British racing season when pacemaker Summoner, a 33-1 long-shot and least fancied of the eight runners, won the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot yesterday.

Ridden by Richard Hills, the Inchinor four-year-old, made every yard to land the £188,500 winner's purse and give Godolphin their third QE II victory. Mark of Esteem was successful in 1996 and three years later Godolphin repeated the feat when Frankie Dettori rode Dubai Millennium to win the race for trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

Summoner, who was eighth to King's Best in the 2,000 Guineas in May, was supplement for the race to play the role of pacemaker to Godolphin's main hope, Noverre. But the soft ground at Ascot seemed to favour the former, who won readily by a length and a half.

Speaking after his shock win Hills said: "It's a big surprise, but it's always a nice feeling to win a race for Godolphin.

"I had everything my own way and I had a good horse underneath me. The instructions were to maintain a fast pace that would benefit Noverre, but when my horse entered the straight five lengths clear of the others, full of running, I realised that he had a good chance of winning. He deserved the victory."

Remarkably Hills had done the same thing in 1994 winning on pacemaker Maroof at odds of 66-1.
Shocking, but nice.

A bit tongue-tied for comments after Summoner's astonishing win Suroor said: "It's a shock, but a nice one.

"Summoner is an under-rated horse. He won a conditions race over 10 furlongs at Doncaster in June in his first race of the season and was only beaten a neck in a Listed race at York. He's very fresh and the ground conditions appeared to work in his favour.

"We didn't expect him to win, but he has, and that's a good thing."

"Dettori, five years on from his 'Magnificent Seven,' suffered an embarrassing blank day yesterday, losing on all six rides at the Ascot Festival of Racing.

In 1996, Dettori had won on all his seven rides at the meeting at cumulative odds of 25,095-1. The day has gone down in racing folklore and cost bookmakers in Britain an estimated £40 million ($58.75 million).

But there was to be no repeat yesterday as Dettori made no impression on five of his mounts including QE II favourite Noverre.

"I picked the wrong one, again. But the only thing that has beaten us is the rain," declared Dettori. "It's just one of those things. Life goes on."

Noverre failed to produce his best on the softer ground declared Dettori. The effervescent Italian had pledged his winnings to charity but said he would give £20,000 any way.