Robert Cowell’s Emperor Spirit dominated affairs to land the BetUK All-Weather Vase Sprint Handicap at Lingfield.

A relatively new part of the Cowell stable, the five-year-old had run just once prior to the event when finishing seventh over five furlongs at Newcastle in February.

Ridden by Jamie Spencer, the 10-1 shot was equipped with cheekpieces and made all of the running to cross the line a neck ahead of his nearest pursuer.

“We ran him over five furlongs in his first start for us because we just wanted to find out how much speed he really had, but it was a bit too quick for him,” Cowell said.

“Six furlongs at Lingfield was an ideal trip, especially on that sort of track, and our game plan worked perfectly.

“Jamie gave him a peach of a ride, exactly what we wanted, and it was a nice pot to win.”

Cowell felt the reapplication of cheekpieces combined with a tongue tie had aided the horse in claiming victory.

He said: “I think the cheekpieces played a part. Quite often when we take other horses on, we take everything off and gradually apply what we need to apply, but I think the combination of the cheekpieces and the tongue strap probably helped.

“It helped stop him getting his tongue over the bit and getting a bit loose, he was really good today.”

Elsewhere on the card, the BetUK All-Weather Vase Marathon Handicap was claimed by Rossa Ryan aboard Ralph Beckett’s Carzola at 9-1.

The Spreadex Sports All Weather Vase Mile Handicap went the way of Irish raider Final Voyage (11-2), trained by Johnny Murtagh and ridden by the newly-crowned all-weather champion apprentice Billy Loughnane.

James Ferguson also enjoyed a winner at the meeting when Diderot, a 8-1 shot, took the BetUK All-Weather Vase Middle Distance Handicap under Daniel Muscutt for Owners Group.