THE Group 2 Champagne Stakes saw a hot favourite in the shape of easy Solario Stakes winner Reach For The Moon (John & Thady Gosden/Frankie Dettori), but Queen Elizabeth’s colt was upstaged by Bayside Boy (Roger Varian/David Egan), who battled on well to hold off the pace-setting favourite by a head, with Twilight Jet (Michael O’Callaghan/Leigh Roche) another length and a half back in third in a race which turned out to be more intriguing than expected.

Bayside Boy, a son of Ballylinch Stud’s New Bay, was very impressive despite looking decidedly green on his debut at Newbury in July, and really should have won the Denford Stakes there on his second start, but he showed his inexperience when hitting the front and allowed the more professional Masekela to regain the lead on the line.