Mighty win for Fergie favourite.

AS Sir Alex Ferguson watched his former club struggle at Old Trafford yesterday, losing 3-1 to Brighton, one of his favourite horses more than made up for it in spectacular style at Windsor. Protektorat — a 10-year-old with the enthusiasm of a five-year-old — produced a remarkable display of jumping and galloping in the Fleur De Lys Chase, the highlight on the final day of the Berkshire Winter Million. Protektorat has given Ferguson and his fellow owners John Hales and Ged Mason some terrific days, not least in the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last March, and trainer Dan Skelton is planning to send the gelding back to defend his title on the back of this demolition job — he beat the 5-4 favourite Djelo by 23 lengths. 'We're so lucky to have a horse like him,' his jockey Harry Skelton said. 'It's very hard to find them. It's a massive day for him. He's the maddest horse I've ever ridden, he's crazy. He'll come out tomorrow and want to go five times around the gallops but that's what makes him so good, his will to keep galloping. He's relentless.' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]