WHEN it comes to training two-year-olds, there are few better than Eve Johnson Houghton. With relatively inexpensive yearling purchases and with horses she bred herself, Eve has produced lots of group and listed winners at two, and a number who have taken home big purses in sales races.

At Royal Ascot this year, Havana Hurricane (cost 9,000gns) won the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes, and on Thursday at Newmarket, Zavateri (Without Parole) kept his unbeaten status when readily landing the Group 2 July Stakes, a race won in the past decade by such as Mehmas, Advertise, Persian Force and, last year, by Whistlejacket. Johnson Houghton previously won the Windsor Castle Stakes with Chipotle, a 10,000gns yearling purchase.