An inspired Tom Marquand ride helped Quickthorn to a Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup romp at York, leading all the way to win by 14 lengths.
Quickthorn – trained by Hughie Morrison – made the running under Marquand, as he did when taking the Henry II Stakes at Sandown earlier this season and did the same in the Prix Maurice de Nieuil at ParisLongchamp last month.
And while his rivals on the Knavesmire allowed him to build up a huge lead down the back straight, it proved to be an unassailable one as the likes of Coltrane, who went off favourite after the withdrawals of Trueshan and Stradivarius, made no impression on the runaway winner.
In the end, Coltrane and Rob Hornby did hang on for second, ahead of outsider Reshoun, who was a good third under Jim Crowley for the Ian Williams team.
Speaking after the race, winning rider Marquand said: “I’m pretty blown away by him. Obviously I’ve ridden him the last few times and got a really good feel off him at Sandown and in France. When I pulled up in France, I felt like I had a couple of gears left, but ultimately on these stayers you might be kidding yourself a bit.