A FOUR-runner race with a winning odds-on favourite isn’t an obvious crowd draw, but just as Enable raised the roof on Thursday, so Stradivarius was feted by the Knavesmire crowd after beating old foe Dee Ex Bee (Mark Johnston
/Silvestre de Sousa) and the much-improved Il Paradiso (Aidan O’Brien/Wayne Lordan) in the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup.

The winner’s quirks are well established now, and Frankie Dettori was keen to get cover behind the front pair before asking for an effort as late as possible, and that added an element of intrigue to proceedings, as the rider poked his mount’s head between rivals before pulling wide and quickening past.