Pride Of America just held on to prevail in a thrilling finish to the John Smith’s Cup at York.

Trained by Amy Murphy, the six-year-old has always been a solid operator for the Southgate Stables handler and was seen to good effect landing a competitive Chester handicap earlier in the campaign.

Out of luck when tackling Group company in France last month, Pride Of America was sent off at 18-1 to bounce back on the Knavesmire off a career-high rating and pulled out all the stops when it mattered.

Having shadowed Andrew Balding’s Nobel to near the head of proceedings entering the home straight, he was soon embroiled in a sustained battle with that unexposed four-year-old and Ed Dunlop’s Haunted Dream.

Entering the final furlong Nobel’s challenge began to falter and although Pride Of America appeared to have Haunted Dream covered, it was Daniel and Claire Kubler’s Astro King who emerged on the scene under with looked a winning run.

There was little to separate the pair as they flashed past the winning post, but it was the mount of 3lb apprentice Frederick Larson who got the nod after a tense wait for the photo-finish, with a nose the official winning distance.

Murphy has won a Grade One over fences thanks to the popular Kalashnikov and has also tasted Listed success in France, but the win marked the biggest Flat success of her career on home soil.

She said: “I’m absolutely ecstatic, there’s no better feeling than when a horse like him, who takes a lot of training and managing, grabs a big prize like that.

“It’s unbelievable and I’m thrilled for the owners and the whole team.

“This has been his target since March, but he does need a bit of cut in the ground. I couldn’t imagine we were going to get cut in the ground in the middle of July, it was a bit of a worry and no one was doing a bigger rain dance than me!”

Of the wait for the photo to be announced, she added: “It was horrific! You can probably tell from my voice that I’ve probably done a lot of screaming in the last five minutes, but thankfully it’s gone our way.

“The owners are my biggest supporters and I’m just thrilled to be able to repay them.

“Today was the target, we’ll just enjoy today and worry about the rest afterwards!”

Larson said: “I’ve always been grateful for Amy, she’s always supported me since I’ve started riding. She said to me on Thursday did I fancy taking a bit of weight off him and I jumped at the opportunity and switched where I was going.

“Everything went wrong for him today, but he still managed to dig it out and win. I’m so glad. Big Saturdays at York is just where you want to be winning, it’s a dream come true.”

Of the gallant runner-up, Daniel Kubler said: “That’s pretty tough. We had one beaten not far at Royal Ascot and now this, but fair play to Amy, she’s done a hell of a job with that horse.

“He’s been a bridesmaid, but I don’t think he’s been that today – he’s put everything on the line. It’s one of those things, another stride and we were in front. It’s really exciting to have horses at this level and we’d love a few more of them.”