Merchant pulled out all the stops to deny Wimbledon Hawkeye in a thrilling finish to the HKJC World Pool Gordon Stakes in attritional conditions at a gloomy Goodwood.

An impressive winner in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot, William Haggas’ improving son of Teofilo was sent off the 6/5 favourite to enhance his growing reputation with a Group 3 success.

With the threat of lightning meaning a flag start, it was Gary and Josh Moore’s Too Soon who led them along, with the Highclere Thoroughbreds-owned market leader among those held up at the rear of the field, along with Aidan O’Brien’s Galveston and Andrew Balding’s recent Sandown winner Windlord.

With the runners edging over to the stands side with the two-furlong pole approaching, it appeared as though James Owen’s Wimbledon Hawkeye would take some reeling in, but Merchant’s jockey Tom Marquand had a brave ally when he needed him, with the colt bridging the deficit to register a nose verdict in the nick of time.

“I wasn't sure if Merchant had won," Haggas admitted. "Roger Varian walked down the stands with me and said he had. It was tough and the horse had to show lots of guts.

"James [Owen] has got Wimbledon Hawkeye back to his best and that horse ran a fantastic race on this ground. Probably, James will say he was an unfortunate loser, but something had to lose and something had to win, and we were lucky this time.

On future plans for the Jim Bolger-bred colt, Haggas commented: “I don't know yet about the St Leger. We will obviously talk to Harry [Herbert of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing] about it. My gut feeling is no because I don't think it did Desert Hero much good long-term. We had planned to go to the Voltigeur with Merchant, but he has had a race today and will need at least 10 days going very quietly before we decide what to do.”

Marquand added: “I needed a brave horse there. Wimbledon Hawkeye got a nice run down the hill and kept building momentum. Merchant hated the ground. I kept thinking I was in trouble, but he kept gritting his teeth.

"He kept digging a bit more and has done well to have his nose in front at the line because he was struggling on ground. The second horse is a good horse who enjoyed the surface and put them to the sword – as they do in good races. Merchant has had to step up today, but he has duly done so, which is great.”