There was early drama as Ralph Beckett’s race regular and leading fancy Kinross was withdrawn at the start after receiving a kick, while Ed Walker’s Royal Ascot winner Noble Champion was eased down and pulled up early into the piece.
However, Doyle avoided any complications as she latched Witness Stand on to the small cluster to go forward from start, always in the slipstream of customary front-runner Quinault and defending champion Audience.
It looked momentarily like Audience would recreate last year’s heroics, but the 25-1 winner found plenty in reserve inside the final furlong to gallop home two-and-three-quarter-lengths clear of William Haggas’ Lake Forest, the only runner to emerge from the chasing pack late on.
Insole said: “As a trainer you wait your whole life for a good horse and to win the Lennox is pretty incredible.
“We bought him for a hundred grand and felt he’d gone under the radar as there were higher offers for him that came our way afterwards. I already had this race in mind for him.
“It was his Chester run (second in a Listed race) that gave us the confidence to come here, and when I saw the rain this morning and the slower ground I knew it would be to his advantage.
“He’s in the Hungerford (at Newbury), but would have to carry a penalty now. I also put him in the Foret this morning.”
For co-trainer Newland it was a red-letter day in his new venture alongside Insole training on the level alongside his Grand National heroics in the jumps sphere. He is also a part-owner of the winner.
Newland said: “It’s a great result and fair play to Jamie and all the team. It was a lovely ride from Hollie in a funny sort of race, but I’m not complaining.
“Jamie leads the Flat team day-to-day, but I am involved in the background and discussing the training and placing of horses.
“I’m also a part-owner of that horse so it’s a terrific result. He was bought to be a flag bearer due to his high rating and it was a superb bit of purchasing by Jamie and Matt Holdsworth at the sales and now we’ve had a payday to get some money back and give us a high-profile winner which is fabulous.”
He added: “It’s more than dipping our toe in and we’re more of a Flat yard now. There’s a number of reasons for that but I’m loving the new challenge of it and it’s quite a big thing to try and re-establish yourself as a Flat yard after being a jumps yard for so long.
“I’m thrilled with how it’s going and we’ve some lovely horses coming through. It’s great fun and I’ve been doing the job 20 years so it’s nice to have a new challenge.”
