However, he is firing in the winners now and Pallasator looked a live Ebor candidate when taking the GL Events Owen Brown Stakes at Ascot on Sunday.

Mark Johnston’s Double Bluff led and kicked on but Pallasator (5/1), conceding the younger horse 18lb, caught him 150 yards from the finish and went away to score by two lengths in the hands of Luke Morris. A giant of a horse, he was raised 2lb for his excellent reappearance second at Haydock and carried 10 stone here. Unsurprisingly, bookmakers made him favourite for the famous old race on the Knavesmire.