ONLY three lined up for the Group 2 Champagne Stakes, but it still proved an informative affair, with the pair who finished first and second in the Acomb Stakes at York last month crossing swords again.

On that occasion, Andrew Balding’s Juddmonte colt Chaldean was half a length too good for Michael O’Callaghan’s Indestructible, but that margin of victory was stretched to three and a half lengths under a clever front-running ride from Frankie Dettori.