Paco Boy brushed off his rivals in the CGA Hungerford Stakes at Newbury with a nonchalant display not dissimilar to Usain Bolt's at the Olympics just a quarter of an hour later on Saturday.
There may not have been a world record on softish ground in the Group Two event but there was quite a swagger in the step of Richard Hannon's three-year-old, who is now destined for the very top.
Paco Boy has only been beaten twice in eight starts and was stepping up another level again on victory in the Betfair Cup at Glorious Goodwood.
Ryan Moore eased the well-supported 6-5 favourite into contention with two of the seven furlongs to run and he settled the race in a matter of strides to career home by four and a half lengths.
‘Ryan was really pleased - he was much better than at Goodwood,’ said Hannon's son and assistant Richard junior.
‘He can go anywhere now - the Prix de la Foret or step up to a mile for the QEII. Then there's Hong Kong and even all-weather races over a mile in America.’
The hero of last month's Goodwood jamboree was eight-winner man Johnny Murtagh, who teamed up with one of his associates from the meeting - Sixties Icon - for further success in the CGA Geoffrey Freer Stakes.
But the pair were required to fight tooth and nail with Henry Cecil's grey Tempelstern, coming from a long way off the pace and just getting the verdict in a photo finish as 2-1 favourite.
The rejuvenated 2006 St Leger winner continues to pay his way, although a number of issues have taken their toll overall.
‘Any horses who have breathing problems lose at least 7lb of ability but he gave us a great day in the St Leger and now he's won a Listed race and two Group Threes this season,’ said trainer Jeremy Noseda.
‘A lot of things haven't gone right for him but he has hardly put a foot wrong - his defeat at Royal Ascot came because my stable was out of sorts at the time.
‘He's a brave, tough horse. He got quite far back today but when Johnny asked for an effort he pulled it out.
‘We might have a tilt at the Canadian International now before looking at the new mile-and-a-half all-weather race, the Marathon, at the Breeders' Cup.’
Jamie Osborne's popular stayer Geordieland managed only fifth, jockey Shane Kelly explaining: ‘It's been well-documented Jamie hasn't been that happy with the horses recently and when I asked him for an effort, there was nothing there.’
