Moore excels on progressive King Of Dixie

Former champion jockey Ryan Moore carried out instructions perfectly on King Of Dixie as William Knight's rising star reigned supreme at York yesterday.

On an unusually low-key Knavesmire card, the smooth victory posted by Knight's up-and-coming Kingmambo colt stole the show and paved the way for connections to plot a path into Group-race company.

After finishing third in the Victoria Cup, King Of Dixie was sent off the well-supported 9-4 favourite for the PD Ports Stakes and while Moore sat a long way off a furious early gallop, his supporters were always sitting pretty.

Quickening smartly inside the distance, he went on to inflict an easy two-and-a-half-length defeat on Godolphin's Fateh Field. "I put him in here to see what we had and I'd be hopeful he could win a Group race after that," Knight said.

King Of Dixie is declared to run at Doncaster today but the trainer will make a decision this morning on whether he will turn out.