GUY Harwood’s daughter Amanda Perrett has made a fine job of running the Pulborough, Sussex stable in the years since his retirement.She trains horses which hover between top handicap and listed/group class and one such is Astronereus, largely ignored at 14/1 in the five-runner Group 3 Al Rayyan Stakes but good enough to beat Ayrad by just over a length with 4/6 favourite Eagle Top a big disappointment in fourth.

Carnachy led to three furlongs out. She was then headed by Ayrad and Andrea Atzeni but Astronereus was always chasing the front pair and Pat Dobbs sent him past inside the final furlong. There was no fluke about the result, the only mystery being Eagle Top’s tame effort after Frankie Dettori had looked full of confidence turning for home.

Astronereus wants at least a mile and a half and took in the Ebor last term, by which time he had had enough for the season. He was third in the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap at Royal Ascot and may go back there for the Hardwicke Stakes, though he also holds an entry in the Gold Cup as well as the Vicomtesse Vigier in France. The Henry II at Sandown looks a tempting target before those races.

Eagle Top is a full-brother to one of the Derby favourites Wings Of Desire. They are by Pivotal, whose progeny tend to be most effective at up to a mile on softish ground. However, the pair of them both stay further and Eagle Top won the King Edward VII Stakes last summer as well as finishing runner-up in the King George. John Gosden said the Hardwicke would still be his target.

This has been a breakthrough season for Hugo Palmer, with Galileo Gold winning the Qipco 2000 Guineas. He added the Listed Haras de Bouquetot Fillies’ Trial to his collection when 12/1 chance We Are Ninety and Jim Crowley proved a neck too good for Luca Cumani’s Beautiful Morning over 10 furlongs, setting up a tilt at the Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot.

Beautiful Morning did nothing wrong and may renew rivalry next month.

It is always worth waiting for Roger Charlton’s horses to hit form. He never over-faces those in his care, always takes time between races and turns them out in the peak of condition. In the London Gold Cup over a mile and a quarter, Imperial Aviator scattered the opposition, coasting home over four lengths ahead of Cartago with Southdown Lad third.

A son of the ultra-tough and consistent Paco Boy (also responsible for Azraff), Imperial Aviator led two furlongs out and shot clear. Charlton also won this with the top-class Al Kazeem and Time Test.

“Every time he’s run he’s improved and his Leicester maiden win received a big boost yesterday when the runner-up won,’’ the trainer said. “Cannock Chase and Time Test won the Tercentenary Stakes after winning this, so why not go for it?”

Richard Hannon’s record at Newbury qualifies whether it’s Hannon senior or junior. On a day when their former top-class miler Paco Boy completed a double in his new role as sire, the stable won with Mehmas and Log Out Island.

The latter was a very fast horse as a juvenile but did not always last home. Now owned by Godolphin and equipped with a hood in the Listed Toronado Carnarvon Stakes over six furlongs, he burst out of the stalls, went several lengths clear and still had more than three to spare over Remarkable at the line.

Hannon junior said: “If he behaves like that in the Commonwealth Cup he’ll go quite close, I hope.’’

Mehmas, an Acclamation youngster, started at 3/1 for his racecourse debut and took the opener just as easily, coming home nicely clear of Global Applause and giving Dettori another success in the Al Shaqab colours. Racing manager Harry Herbert nominated the Coventry Stakes as the immediate target.