A BRIEF frisson of anxiety aside, Able Friend cantered to a third straight Group 1 with now customary ease in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.

However, Irish interest in the race via Gordon Lord Byron never loomed as even a momentary threat with the seven-year-old unable to improve his position better than midfield at any stage.

Victory for Able Friend ended up as convincing as his wins in the Hong Kong Mile and Stewards’ Cup but there was a moment approaching the final furlong pole when his jockey Joao Moreira was trapped on the inside rail with acres of horse but nowhere to go. “I was about to call my cardiologist,” trainer John Moore later laughed after the 1/3 chance obliged.

A quick dart to the left put paid to the traffic congestion - although it also earned the Brazilian jockey a three-day ban and a hefty fine for careless riding for interference caused - and once the flame-red chesnut was in the clear he gathered up Beauty Flame in a heartbeat and won untouched by over two lengths. Gold-Fun ran third.

“For a horse as big as he is, his footwork is quite something. One second he is blocked for a run, the next he’s in a different lane and exploding to the front. Amazing horse. We are very lucky to have him,” Moore marvelled.

Forthcoming objectives for Able Friend are the Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy on April 7th and the Champions Mile on May 3rd after which a decision will be made whether to set a course for the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot or the Yasuda Kinen early in June.

There is no telling which of the latter two options will pique the interest of owner Cornel Li - if at all. The US$6 million Dubai Turf a week today would surely have been at Able Friend’s mercy in this sort of form but Li was uninterested in a trip to the Middle East and its attendant riches and opted to fry smaller fish at home.

“Sooner or later we are going to have to take him to the world. I just can’t tell you which direction we are going yet,” Moore concluded.