Quickthorn turned the Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup Stakes into a procession as Hughie Morrison's stayer continued his rise up the staying ranks.
Second in both the Further Flight Stakes and Sagaro Stakes in April, he went on to land the Group Three Henry II Stakes at Sandown before adding the Group Two Prix Maurice de Nieuil at ParisLongchamp last month.
With Stradivarius and Trueshan both absent, he brought up his hat-trick in facile fashion on the Knavesmire, with Tom Marquand dictating terms aboard the 9-4 winner to make every yard.
Allowed an easy easy lead in the early stages, he extended his advantage to upwards of 10 lengths as the field travelled down the back, with the gap only betting bigger in the home straight, where Marquand was able to comfortably cruise home in splendid isolation.
He returned a winning distance of 14 lengths back to runner-up Coltrane.
WHAT A PERFORMANCE! 😲
— York Racecourse (@yorkracecourse) August 19, 2022
🏇 Quickthorn wins the Group 2 Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup Stakes by a wide margin under Tom Marquand for Hughie Morrison 👏@TomMarquand @weatherbysltd @SkyBet #EborFestival pic.twitter.com/ffMbk3wT0H
A clearly impressed 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.
"I could have broken his stride but what’s the point, he’s an exuberant stayer with a full tank under him and we went steady enough that he doesn’t overcook it.
"I knew I’d stretched away down the back, at the two I gave him a flick as he was looking at the crowd but I heard the commentary and looked at the big screen and was able to take a sit.
"You almost wish the big guns were here to see what might have happened. He also did it on ground that was probably quicker than ideal.
"I’m hugely excited for what the future might hold as he’s only just getting going."
Morrison added: "We’ve got three options, the Prix Royal-Oak, the Prix du Cadran and the Long Distance Cup. He is in the Irish St Leger, but he’s had a hard enough race there.
"He’s quick and a flat track helps him, Tom said he didn’t enjoy going down the hill at Sandown.
"I’m a believer that with horses you think need soft ground you can get away with it on a level track and they do a great job with the ground here.
Noble Style (3-1) kept his unbeaten record intact when coming from last to first to land the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes.
Made ante-post favourite for the Coventry Stakes having downed Walbank at Ascot on debut, the Charlie Appleby-trained son of Kingman has made up for missing that Royal Ascot engagement by impressing at Newmarket and showing his class in this first taste of Group action on the Knavesmire.
Held up in rear and shadowing Richmond Stakes winner Royal Scotsman in the early stages, William Buick was willing to bide his time as eventual runner-up Marshman disputed matters with his Karl Burke stablemate Cold Case on the front end.
Clifford Lee made his move for home first and the favourite looked set to justify his lofty reputation.
But Buick soon got Noble Style motoring and it was the 525,000 guineas buy who was doing his best work late and flew home to land the spoils, with the front pair pulling well clear of the third Cold Case.
🏇 NOBLE STYLE remains unbeaten after landing the Group 2 @ABE_Dubai Dubai Gimcrack Stakes in great style for William Buick and Charlie Appleby 👏@ABE_Dubai @SkyBet #EborFestival pic.twitter.com/xy99IUWeAk
— York Racecourse (@yorkracecourse) August 19, 2022
Appleby said: "After his Ascot win all roads were leaning towards Royal Ascot, but two weeks out we just weren't happy with him. There was no issue there, but he just wasn’t the same horse as he was prior to his maiden success.
"I’m very lucky to be able to make the call and give this horse the time that was needed, then we took him to Newmarket and he won there, after which some people might have thought he’d regressed.
"We were very happy with how the horse came out of it – physically you could see how much improvement was there – and he galloped earlier in the week and looked as good as we’ve ever seen him.
"We came in here with confidence, but there was plenty of strength in depth in the race today, he had to go and do it and he did it well. The nice thing about him is he goes through the line well.
"He will step up to seven furlongs at some stage, but as we all know the next couple of weeks is an important time for the two-year-olds. They start to sort themselves out and find their feet and there’s important races coming up soon.
"I suppose the National Stakes can be put into the melting pot, but there’s a couple more horses to come out and whether this horse might be able to do it again over six in the Middle Park and we step up at a later stage, or whether we step up to seven on his next start – it’s a healthy discussion to have."
