HAYLEY Turner proved she is riding as well as ever with a gutsy victory in the feature race at Ascot on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

She was Britain’s leading female jockey until quitting the saddle late in 2015. But the 35-year-old made a comeback earlier this year and showed she had not lost any of her drive and passion by steering Ripp Orf home in the totescoop6 Victoria Cup.

Turner had to starve herself to make 8lb 1lb on the bottom weight and after the race admitted: “I am looking forward to my dinner.”

The former champion apprentice had orders from trainer David Elsworth to ride the 20/1 shot with confidence in the 27-runner contest, adding: “He just liked weaving through. What a legend of a horse.”

Ripp Orf won by a neck from top weight Zhui Feng (28/1, ridden by Pat Dobbs) with 40/1 Sea Fox (Gabriele Malune) third and 9/1 Sabador (William Buick) fourth.

Buick won the following race, the totesport.com Novice Stakes, on 3/1 Blown By Wind, trained by Mark Johnston.

The two-year-old made all in the five-furlong sprint with 40/1 outsider Amplify, the mount of Joe Fanning, three-quarters of a length behind in second place.

Buick, riding Mirage Dancer (4/1) for Sir Michael Stoute, just missed out in the Carey Group Buckhounds Stakes, going down by a neck to the 10/11 favourite Barsanti (Andrea Atzeni), Other favourites to win on the day were 9/2 Count Calabash in the Les Ambassadeurs Casino Handicap and 7/2 Moonraker in the concluding Leo Bancroft Signature Haircare Handicap, both ridden by Charles Bishop, taking his tally to nine wins in the last 14 days.

Ascot’s Friday evening meeting saw Frankie Dettori record another milestone as his victory on Stream The Stars made him the fifth most winning jockey in the history of British Flat racing.

This was the Italian’s 3,112th winner, taking him above Doug Smith, but he is well adrift of the top four – Sir Gordon Richards with 4,870, Pat Eddery (4,633), Lester Piggott (4,493) and Willie Carson (3,828).

Next up for Ascot is the Royal meeting starting on Tuesday, June 19.