THE Darley Yorkshire Oaks on the Thursday at York, another Group 1, produced a fine winning performance from Seventh Heaven but not quite a Group 1-standard time.

It took the Aidan O’Brien-trained filly a while to hit top gear, but she swept past late on to beat her stablemate Found by two and three-quarter lengths and to run to 112.

This effort was remarkably similar to the one she put up when winning the Irish Oaks by the same margin (running a time of 113) from Architecture, and Seventh Heaven does seem to need a good gallop and all of a mile and a half.

Sectionals do identify the gallop as “good”, rather than overly-strong, but the test proved too much for several of Seventh Heaven’s rivals.

In particular, third-placed Queen’s Trust shaped as well as anything before emptying out late on: she can be found a good race at this trip or slightly shorter.

There was a fascinating Lowther Stakes earlier on the Thursday card, in which Fair Eva - so impressive when winning the Princess Margaret at Ascot the time before - was widely expected to prevail.

In the event, the race went to another daughter of Frankel in Queen Kindly, with no obvious excuses for Fair Eva in terms of the run of the race, though she may now require a bit more of a test than provided by a six furlongs as quick as this was on the day.

It would be wrong to imagine that the form was mediocre by Lowther standards, however, for the time was anything but that. Queen Kindly gets a 113 timefigure, while runner-up Roly Poly - who conceded weight all round - goes up to 114.

The latter is the highest figure for a two-year-old filly in Britain and Ireland this season barring Lady Aurelia. Fair Eva was 3 below the 112 she posted at Ascot, so this was not quite the disaster some were portraying it as.