Canberra cabbie Joe Janiak and his battling galloper Takeover Target have triumphed in the rarified air of English racing, winning the King's Stand Stakes at the royal meeting at Ascot.

Following in the footsteps of fellow Australian sprinter Choisir, who won this race plus the Golden Jubilee Stakes in 2003, Takeover Target was quickly taken to the lead down the 1000-metre Ascot straight by Sydney jockey Jay Ford and held off all comers in a blanket finish.

Takeover Target won by a short head from Irish horse Benbaun with a half-neck to Pivotal Point, ridden by Frankie Dettori.

Lee Freedman's Falkirk dead-heated for fourth while Danny O'Brien's Glamour Puss was only a couple of lengths off the winner in seventh, completing an impressive showing by the three Australian visitors.

Takeover Target was the pre-race favourite in early betting, but late money for Kieran Fallon's mount Moss Vale pushed Janiak's horse into second favouritism when they jumped.

But there always appeared an inevitability that the laconic Janiak would triumph, playing pauper to the racing world's princes, with the Queen on hand to re-open an impressively re-developed Ascot and the cream of English society on hand for the occasion.

Janiak, a strict jeans and t-shirt man, bristled in his morning suit and top hat as he collected the trophy from the Countess of Wessex, but it was not enough to stifle his joy after the finish.

"We keep putting him up a level and he just seems to handle it, even with extra weight and everything else," Janiak said.

"He didn't have a good barrier draw today, he had to tough it out.

"I thought he might have got pipped on the line, but he's a horse that doesn't like to be beaten, he's got sheer guts and determination in him."

The prizemoney took Takeover Target's career earnings past $2 million - deserving reward for a man who bought the horse no-one wanted for a knockdown $1250, then resisted a $1 million offer for him after he won a listed race at Grafton early in his career.

"From the word go I knew he had a bit of ability, but probably just enough to win a race or two around home, a race or two around my district," Janiak said.

Takeover Target will now attempt to match Choisir by winning the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, followed by the July Stakes at Newmarket next month, then will move on to Japan for the Centaur Stakes or Sprinters Stakes in September/October and then Hong Kong for the International Sprint in December.

"He'll be a chance provided the horse stands up," Janiak said.

The Australian racing world will now be at Janiak's feet, but he is not about to become the new Freedman, Waterhouse, Hawkes or Hayes, preferring to keep less than a dozen horses in work at his new base in Coffs Harbour.

"I don't want to get any bigger - I just want to be a small hobby trainer, do them all myself and do it properly," Janiak said.

And, no, he will not give up his taxi licence just yet.

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