It all looked to be going pear-shaped for the odds-on favourite State Solicitor in Saturday's Group III Colonel Reeves Stakes at Ascot. Trapped three back on the rails, with nowhere to go, coming into the straight, William Pike, not for the first time, found the narrowest of seams to snatch victory from defeat.
Charging between runners, State Solicitor kept up his phenomenal winning strike rate to defeat the 4yo mare Caipirinha by a short-neck and credit Widden Stud's Nicconi with a 1-2 finish.
Durendal (Medaglia d'Oro) was a nose back in third.
Winning owner Bob Peters admitted things looked bleak on the home turn.
"I was thinking we always hope for an inside barrier but I was wishing we hadn't have got it," Peters said.
"He (Pike) was in a lot of trouble and it took a great effort to get him out of it."
Remarkably, it was the first stakes win for State Solicitor who advances his record to 9 wins from 12 starts with earnings of $427,900.
The Grant and Alana Williams-trained gelding was highly enough regarded to start in Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes 12 months ago where he finished an honourable sixth behind the winner Takedown and he will head down the same path this year.
A homebred for Peters Investments, State Solicitor is a half-brother to Group II Western Australian Derby winner Respondent (Haradasun).
They are out of the top-class mare Avenida Madero whose 13 wins included the 2004 renewal of the Colonel Reeves Stakes in addition to the Group II WATC Lee Steere Stakes, Group III AJ Scahill Stakes, Group III Roma Cup and Listed Jungle Mist Classic.
Avenida Madero has a 2yo Denman gelding named Mankind, a yearling colt by I am Invincible and earlier this month foaled a filly by Nicconi.
State Solicitor becomes the 14th stakes winner for Widden Stud's hugely popular Nicconi who covered a career-high 227 mares in 2016.
His fee was raised from $11,000 to $16,500 in 2017.
