Accidental Agent started to make headway under jockey Charles Bishop as the sprint for home started two furlongs out. He surged through to final furlong where he dug deep to win by half a length, providing both his jockey and trainer with a first winner at the Royal meeting.
Lord Glitters came a respectable second, with Lightning Spear (10/1) fending off Century Dream for third.
Race favourites Rhododendron and Benbatl, were unplaced.
Eve Johnson Houghton said in an interview: "Unbelievable! I still can't believe it. I haven't slept for two nights. I dreamt that he would be third.
"You might need to man the lifeboats as there are a lot of tears! Group One winner... I've never trained a Royal Ascot winner, let alone a Group One winner at Royal Ascot!
Bred by Gaie Johnson Houghton, whose husband Fulke trained 10 Royal Ascot winners between 1965 and 1988, most notably with the 1979 King’s Stand S. hero Double Form (Ire), Accidental Agent was a fairytale waiting to happen as he was named after Eve’s grandfather John Goldsmith, who wrote the book “Accidental Agent: Behind Enemy Lines with the French Resistance” and was in the Special Operations Executive (SEO) during the war.
Having been unable to get any kind of price for him at Tattersalls October Book 2 as a yearling, the Johnson Houghton family had little to lose by racing him in their colours and he provided them with instant return when successful in Newmarket’s £150,000 Tattersalls October Auction S. in October 2016. Kept to handicaps thereafter, he scored over seven furlongs at Kempton in September before running second in the Listed Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Cup over that trip at Newbury in September.
He was understandably largely ignored after appearing to be outclassed in the Gr.1 Lockinge. But when the group 1 winners Benbatl, Rhododendron and Recoletos all began to lose steam he surged ahead.
The rest as they say is history!
1.Accidental Agent (E. Johnson Houghton C. Bishop), 2.Lord Glitters (D. O'Meara,J. Spencer), 3.Lightning Spear (D. Simcock,O. Murphy), 4.Century Dream (S. Crisford,W. Buick), 5.Yoshida (W. Mott,J. Ortiz), 6.Beat The Bank ( A. Balding,J. Crowley), 7.Recoletos (C. Laffon-Parias,O. Peslier), 8.So Beloved (D. O'Meara,P. Makin), 9.Rhododendron (A. O'Brien,R. Moore), 10.Benbatl (S. Suroor,C. Soumillon), 11.Oh This Is Us (R. Hannon, ,T. Marquand), 12.Deauville (A. O'Brien,D. O'Brien), 13.Limato (H. Candy,J. Doyle), 14.Suedois (D. O'Meara,D. Tudhope), 15.Zonderland (C. Cox,A. Kirby)
Distance:1 mile (1,609 metres), Surface:Turf, Track:Straight, Qualification:Four-years-old and up, Weight:9 st 0 lb,Allowances,3 lb for fillies and mares,1 lb for S. Hemisphere 4yo, Purse:£685,000 (2017),1st: £388,464
Credit: Pallavi Shevade pallavi.shevade@secretaristworld.com