Lord Glitters came from the clouds to win the Balmoral Handicap at Ascot for David O'Meara and Danny Tudhope.
When GM Hopkins hit the front close home, he looked sure to provide John Gosden with a Champions Day treble.
The 3-1 favourite Lord Glitters met trouble in running on entering the final furlong and his chance seemed to have gone. However, once switched into the clear he fairly flew home, winning by a neck. Dark Red was third and Accidental Agent fourth.
O'Meara said: "It was a little bit nerve-wracking to watch, he got in all sorts of trouble, no fault of Danny's. He didn't get out until late on and we felt we needed to be far side and he had to pull out near side.
"The horse has got an amazing turn of foot. We bought him from France and the idea was to run him in the Challenge Cup here and then come to this race. We hit the woodwork there and won this and it's been great.
"We're hoping he might be a Group horse. We recently retired Mondialiste owned by Geoff (Turnbull), and this guy was bought to fill his boots and keep the colours in these good races.
"Hopefully he'll be as talented as Mondialiste given time. It's early days, that's only the 10th or 11th run of his life and he's obviously very talented."