ROGER Varian’s Postponed, quite possibly the best middle-distance horse in the world, shrugged off the setback which cost him his place in the King George at Ascot and ran out a worthy winner of the Group 1 Juddmonte International when the York Ebor Meeting opened on Wednesday.

Ridden with considerable confidence by Andrea Atzeni, the 15/8 favourite tracked the leaders, headed by his pacemaker King Bolete, and was sent on with three furlongs to travel. That may have worried his supporters, especially with King George hero Highland Reel and Seamie Heffernan chasing hard, but Postponed galloped on strongly, despite edging right, to hold that rival by a length and a quarter.

Mutakayyef, short of room when the winner veered towards the stands’ side, kept on for third followed by the runner-up’s stable-companion Sir Isaac Newton.

The others were all well beaten, the principal disappointments being The Grey Gatsby (6th), who seems to have deteriorated, Godolphin’s Hawkbill (8th), very easy to back at 6/1 and rather too keen, and Wings of Desire, who was never a factor from start to finish.

Postponed, who was winning his fourth Group 1, goes from strength to strength and is a credit to Varian, who must have been under a little pressure when a repeat bid in the King George - the horse was trained by Luca Cumani last year - had to be shelved because of an infection. He is now firmly on course for the Arc and is 4/1 favourite in several lists.

“He’s an incredible horse and I’m very lucky to have him,” the trainer said. “We didn’t have long to get him ready and he only really turned the corner two weeks ago. In the last seven days he looked to have blossomed and the change in him gave us the confidence he was right. I trusted in the horse’s condition and he delivered.

“I’ll talk through plans with the owner (Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum) but I think it unlikely we’d run again before the Arc, so that gives us plenty of time to tune him in again for that race.”

Although bookmakers are taking few chances with a 4/1 quote, Postponed may come to represent very fair value. He has not had a hard season, will be more than happy going back up to a mile and a half, and beat a very talented field this week, even if two or three of his rivals ran below their best.

Godolphin have enjoyed a successful campaign, beyond question, but again there was a strangely low-key performance, with Hawkbill a long way below his Coral-Eclipse form.