Bacio blazes a trail to win the Nunthorpe for America

American raider Bacio blitzed his rivals from the front to provide Wesley Ward with a first victory in the Coolmore City Of Troy Nunthorpe Stakes at York.

While the popular Keeneland-based trainer has enjoyed 13 winners at Royal Ascot, success on the Knavesmire has proved elusive, having saddled Acapulco to finish second in 2015 and come even closer two years later through Lady Aurelia, with Frankie Dettori memorably celebrating passing the post only to find he had actually been beaten a nose by Marsha.

Bacio was the 3-1 favourite to go one better under Juan Hernandez following a brilliant victory in the Palace of Holyroodhouse at the Royal meeting in June and pre-race concerns about the rain-softened ground soon proved unfounded as the three-year-old flew out of the starting stalls.

He had most of his rivals struggling to keep up from halfway and never really looked in any danger of being reeled in, passing the post a length and a quarter clear of Starlust.