Ferguson pockets nearly £1m as his horse triumphs at lucrative Saudi Cup meeting

Sir Alex Ferguson declared himself to be 'living a dream' after his one-in-a-million horse, Spirit Dancer, landed another colossal payday.

The former Manchester United manager's interests in racing are getting more profound by the week and he will remember this to be a Super Saturday, thanks to Spirit Dancer coming with a thundering late run to land the Group Two Neom Cup in Saudi Arabia – and with it a purse of £944,882.

On a night that saw the world's richest race staged in Riyadh, Spirit Dancer's exultant trainer Richard Fahey labelled him 'a people's horse' and was left speechless by the fact he has now earned £1.7million in his career.

Ferguson had already been part of an ownership group that had enjoyed success at Kempton Park, with Kalif Du Berlais winning the Adonis Hurdle, but the victory of Spirit Dancer had extra-meaning, as he bred the seven-year-old at his stud in Hemel Hempstead.

Racing has always been a release for Ferguson and a welcome distraction from football – how timely this was given his old side's last-gasp defeat to Fulham at Old Trafford – and it was impossible not to see his joy in the aftermath.

Spirit Dancer had been beautifully trained by Richard Fahey, who is based in Yorkshire, and received a superb ride from jockey Oisin Orr, who has built up quite a rapport with the son of the great Frankel having won a huge prize on him in Bahrain last November.

'It's fantastic,' Ferguson beamed. 'After Bahrain you come here and look at the field, the performance from Oisin and the horse and Richard, it's unbelievable. Richard made the point he hasn't had a lot of racing, and I think we see the evidence.

'Oisin said this morning the horse is improving all the time. I took a gamble a few years ago with a stud