TRAINER Roger Varian has made a great success of things at Newmarket since taking over from the late Michael Jarvis but would probably admit that he made a miscalculation regarding plans for Kingston Hill.

With rain still in the air and plenty of ‘give’ underfoot, the right race for the Derby runner-up seemed to be the Geoffrey Freer at Newbury last Saturday. By-passing that, Varian waited for Wednesday’s Group 2 Neptune Investment Management Great Voltigeur Stakes but, after walking the course, decided the going was too firm and withdrew the St Leger favourite who will probably go straight to Doncaster.