Alutiq Wins, Bentley Sparkles
Meanwhile, in Qatar, jockey Harry Bentley, who is retained by Sheikh Fahad as second jockey to Spencer, celebrated a remarkable six winners at Doha.
Alutiq's win in Kempton's £19,000 Winners Are Welcome At Betdaq Conditions Stakes guaranteed her a place at the inaugural All-Weather Championships Finals Day on Good Friday.
The Eve Johnson Houghton-trained Alutiq, a three-year-old who won twice last year, was held up by Spencer in last night's six-furlong race, and was at full stretch to reel in pace-setting Oriental Relation. At the line she was half a length to the good and about to go clear.
Her next target is likely to be the £150,000 32Red.com Three-Year-Old Final over seven furlongs at Lingfield on finals day, which is worth a total of £1,000,000, by far the greatest sum of money ever offered at a British all-weather meeting.
Johnson Houghton said: "I was thrilled with Alutiq tonight. On this evidence, she should get seven furlongs but obviously there are no guarantees. I need to talk to Sheikh Fahad or David Redvers, but I imagine we will put her away and wait for the Good Friday Final.
"Alutiq runs well when fresh and does not need much work. She wants firm ground on turf so we might as well wait for that as well. The plan was to qualify tonight for the All-Weather Championships and then have another break."
Horses become eligible for the six championship contests on Finals Day (April 18) by running in a minimum of three races at Britain's All-Weather tracks or, like Alutiq, by succeeding in one of the 16 Fast-Track qualifiers.
Bentley's superb six-timer was achieved with four wins in thoroughbred races and two when riding Arab horses.
His father, John, told The Racing Post: "I'm absolutely tickled pink. I've spoken to Harry and he's over the moon.
Bentley, whose son is 21, added: "Harry is not one for blowing his own trumpet. I've always told him to be very low key.
"He won a Group Three Arab race this evening with a prize of 114,000 Riyals (£19,000/€23,000) and on the day has won over 340,000 riyals. He has seven rides on tomorrow's [today's] eight-race card including the ride on the favourite in a race worth a million Riyals (£168,000/€202,000)."