Charlie Hills’ Equilateral landed the opening Sky Bet And Symphony Group Handicap at York this afternoon.

The eight-year-old stable favourite was having his first start in a British handicap having been campaigned in stakes company for the majority of his career.

Charles Hills' runner struggled on soft ground in the King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood last-time-out but found the return to a quicker surface extremely beneficial when carrying the top-weight of 9st 12lb to a narrow victory on the Knavesmire.

The field were spread across the track entering the furlong pole with it looking as though the far side seemingly had a small advantage. Course specialist just struck the front furthest from the stands, but he was pounced on late, and it was Equilateral who came home best scoring by a neck to land the odds at 12/1.

Alligator Alley won the battle for second with the 9/1 chance edging out JM Jungle (12/1) and Makanah (18/1).

Winning rider, Jamie Spencer told ITV Racing: "He was the class horse but it's never simple carrying that sort of weight. He likes quick ground and he got that."

When asked about how the horse travelled through the race, he replied: "Oh easy. Just look for Copper Knight and he'll take you as far as you want. I got up on Joe [Fanning's] slipstream and was just holding onto him holding onto him.

I could feel Danny [Tudhope] come to him and I knew it was time to go. Five and a half [furlongs] would be the upper limit of his stamina and he was gutsy."

On the ground, Spencer added: "Well every winning jockey will tell you it's lovely. It's good to firm ground bit very safe."