DERMOT Weld chose Windsor’s Saturday evening meeting to give Fascinating Rock his first outing since an excellent second to Al Kazeem in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh in May.

However, despite starting a very short 6/5 favourite in the Group 3 Unibet Winter Hill Stakes, the son of Fastnet Rock could manage only fifth behind Godolphin’s Racing History. Fascinating Rock is clearly better than this and it was probably the combination of sticky ground and a three-month absence which brought about his defeat.