Hannon colt strikes late to defeat Guineas winner at third attempt in 'Duel on the Downs'

Third-choice jockey Johnny Murtagh targets literary double in Arc, having already won it on Dylan Thomas

Report finds Mahmood al-Zarooni's assistant Charlie Appleby was unaware of what was going on

Ruler of the World and Trading Leather, the English and Irish Derby winners, were conspicuous by their absence at today’s entry stage for the St Leger, connections opting  instead to go the Irish Champion Stakes route and a drop back in distance. However, a profusion of  prospective late-bloomers stood their ground for the Doncaster classic,  including no fewer than 12 from Aidan O’Brien’s powerful stable.

It was a King George who described an English summer as “three fine days and a thunderstorm”, so it seems somewhat appropriate that this hot spell is about to give way to heavy rain as Ascot prepares to stage the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday.

Though Britain’s premier league fillies were firmly repulsed by Chicquita in the Irish Oaks on Saturday, at least the second division came home with some honour from The Curragh yesterday.

Irish hopes look shaky as Epsom winner puts reputation on the line  at the Curragh

Hannon swayed by pressure to appeal against controversial Falmouth Stakes ruling

Of the weekend’s July Cup heroes, Lethal Force was easily the most  relaxed yesterday. The four-year-old enjoyed a lazy lead out to stretch the limbs that had carried him to his record-breaking Group One victory and a prolonged pick at grass to settle his rather fizzy mind, then spent the rest of the day chilling in the cool of his box. Meanwhile his trainer Clive Cox, after sorting out his entries for the rest of the week – it’s back to bread and butter at Lingfield on Wednesday – fielded interminable phone calls of inquiry and congratulation.

O’Brien’s Jersey Stakes winner has the pace to beat speedsters at their own game in July Cup

For anyone who has wondered quite how the British Turf continues to seduce investment from the Gulf, perhaps a day at the July Festival at Newmarket might prove every bit as instructive as one spent among the pomp and pageantry of Ascot or Epsom. At a time of year when their homelands seem most arid, the sheikhs find themselves driven through avenues of trees between green paddocks to a racecourse full of shade and flowers. And if the quality of the sport is mixed, with plenty of maidens and handicaps as ballast to the elite contests, then there will be a corresponding air of relaxation over the next three afternoons – not least granted the benign weather forecast.

The horse who has emerged as the discovery of the season continued his harvest of top prizes yesterday. Al Kazeem's decisive success in the Eclipse Stakes, his third in a row at Group 1 level, confirmed him as Britain's best middle-distance performer and a most credible candidate for the end-of-year showdown in the division, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. His purposeful progress up the rankings is now there in the formbook; his place in public affection has been slower to come but his charisma must surely now be acknowledged.

While Frankie Dettori continues his mortifying hunt for a first winner since before Royal Ascot, the champion jockey himself has gained stunning impetus after ending his own frustrations at that meeting. Until overcoming a nightmare draw on Sky Lantern in the Coronation Stakes on the Friday, Richard Hughes had endured a maddening week, repeatedly finding himself stuck in traffic or caught out by the draw. As soon as Ascot was out of the way, however, Hughes promptly accumulated 20 winners in eight days – with a treble at Windsor on Monday evening completing the fastest hundred of his career.

No less than any other walk of life, it is pretty rare in racing for anyone to profess indignation when credited with a stroke of genius. Such was the case at Epsom last month, however, when Aidan O’Brien and his patrons at Coolmore maintained a scrupulous show of bemusement about a theory that their horses had collectively undermined the prospects of the hot favourite, Dawn Approach, by setting an unexpectedly slow pace in the Investec Derby.