Racing: Harris Bay robs the bank thanks to Murphy's stealth

Timmy Murphy's cool warmed proceedings at chill, rain-lashed Ascot yesterday, when he produced a masterclass in his trademark nerveless waiting tactics on Harris Bay to take the day's richest prize.

In the £50,000 Allied Irish Bank Chase the Irishman did not put the seven-year-old into the mix until after the last fence, when he cruised smoothly past trailblazing favourite Lou du Moulin Mas to win from nowhere by a length and a half.

"That was some ride," said the gelding's wet but happy trainer Henrietta Knight. Harris Bay's talent has been compromised by breathing problems, but he has now won six of his last eight starts.

Fondmort, the gallant Nicky Henderson-trained chaser who so nearly lost his life when he fractured his pelvis on the gallops last week, continues to improve in a Lambourn veterinary hospital.

And there was further cheer for the Seven Barrows yard when the 10-year-old's young stablemate All Star, who has the Arkle Chase at Cheltenham pencilled in, made an eyecatching successful fencing debut under Mick Fitzgerald at Ascot yesterday.

Jockeys Dean Williams and Brian Reilly must wait until next month to learn their fate regarding corruption charges after a disciplinary panel of the Horseracing Regulatory Authority yesterday adjourned the case.

The two men attended a four-day hearing at in London during the week which looked at their riding of 10 horses between December 2004 and February of this year. Due to the large volume of evidence and the seriousness of the charges, the panel will wait until 11 December before releasing their findings.