Port Lockroy has delivered a first Group 1 win for jockey Clint Johnston-Porter and a second for the training partnership of Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald, with a comfortable victory in the G1 Railway Stakes at Ascot.

Clint Johnston-Porter
Clint Johnston-Porter salutes on Port Lockroy. (Photo: Western Racepix)

The four-year-old son of Better Than Ready camped just off the pace and Johnson-Porter went for home on straightening, surging past the early leaders Socks Nation and Belclare and then holding off locally trained pair Comfort Me and Super Smink to prevail by three-quarters of a length.

It was Port Lockroy’s third win at his 15th start and just his second shot at a Group 1 race, but coming off a sixth in the Golden Eagle, he elevated to another level in his first run the anti-clockwise direction.

For the stable, the success followed on from Sunshine In Paris’ win in the Champions Sprint at Flemington two weeks ago, which was Neasham and Archibald’s first together to go with Neasham’s 10 under her own name.

It was Archibald’s first trip to Ascot and one he won’t soon forget.

“I’m just so excited for the owners in the horse. You know, he's been so unlucky almost his whole career, through gates or whatever it may be, and just executed a perfect race today,” he said.

“The owners have been brave enough to come over and having a go, you know, it's such a great reward for them.”

Neasham purchased the Better Than Ready colt together with her then bloodstock agent Brian McGuire for $300,000 at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. He races in the colours of Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock, while the syndicate also includes several other owners including Brae Sokolski’s Yes Bloodstock.

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For Johnston-Porter, who has been one of Perth’s leading riders for many years, it was a breakthrough moment at his 10th Group 1 ride, having placed twice in Group 1 races before.

“It's going to take a couple of weeks to sink in. Yeah, I've been dreaming this moment for a very long time, and I was stiff last season not to get one, so to get one on the board is just massive, and it being the Railway, it’s such an iconic race,” he said.

Port Lockroy was bred in Queensland by Yarramalong Park and is a brother to multiple stakes winner Alpine Edge, who now stands at Clear Mountain Fairview.  He becomes the second Group 1 winner for his Lyndhurst Stud-based sire and may have booked his own future stud career with the win.

“It's going to take a couple of weeks to sink in. Yeah, I've been dreaming this moment for a very long time." - Clint Johnston-Porter

Earlier in the day. Ciaron Maher dominated racing on the eastern seaboard, claiming the first edition of The Meteorite, a $1 million race at Cranbourne, with impressive four-year-old Nadal.

The gelding son of Xtravagant unleashed a withering finish to defeat Rey Magnerio by 2.75l in the 1200 metre feature.

Twenty minutes later, Maher was the man again as Gringotts landed a massive betting plunge by winning the $1 million The Gong at Kembla Grange. Gringotts, who is by Per Incanto, had previously won The Big Dance at Randwick and has collected over $2 million in his past two starts.

Maher’s runners have banked $37.5 million in prize money already this season, $11.5 million more than his nearest rival Chris Waller.

In the other Kembla feature, the Matthew Smith-trained Headwall won The Warra, while back at Cranbourne, the Cup was taken out by the Mick Price and Michael Kent-trained Globe.

The Group 2 WA Guineas went to the Grant and Alana Williams-prepared filly Storyville, a daughter of Overshare, while the Scahill Cup and the Carbine Club were claimed by Sentimental Hero and Aztec Ruler respectively.

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