Despite carrying a 4lb penalty, he quickened up in impressive style to beat Saucy Buck by two and a quarter lengths and land the odds as the 2-7.

Richard Hannon jnr: "He's a very nice horse and we've always liked him. Hughesey said he pulled up a little in front.

"Sandown is an option but he'll probably come back straight here for either the Norfolk or the Coventry but probably the Norfolk."

Henry Cecil's Aviate (6-4 favourite) maintained her unbeaten record with a comfortable victory in the X Factor Stakes.

Winner of a Kempton maiden on her debut, the Prince Khalid Abdullah-owned three-year-old settled nicely in second behind Deirdre in the hands of Tom Queally.

She was the last off the bridle and when Queally asked the question, the daughter of Dansili had no trouble in stretching clear to beat the fast-finishing Blue Angel by a length and three-quarters.

Cecil said: "I'm a little bit unsure after that. We know she will definitely get a mile and a quarter but we're not sure about a mile and a half.

"She's in at York and could possibly run in the Musidora as there's not a lot else for her. She will come on a lot for it and she has had a good blow."

Cecil has plenty of firepower in the three-year-old fillies division and he added: "Principal Role could run in the Pretty Polly and Timepiece will run in the Lingfield Oaks Trial."

Punters may have held sway in the first two races but Cityscape proved an expensive failure for odds-on backers in the Britain's Got Talent Paradise Stakes.

Sent off the 4-9 favourite, Roger Charlton's four-year-old looked in trouble from an early stage and did well to finish as close as he did to King Of Dixie.

The winner, trained by William Knight, was winning his first race at Listed level but has now won six of his 12 career starts.

Jim Crowley always looked confident on the 4-1 chance and he held on to win by a neck.

Knight said: "The owner has been very patient as he has not been the easiest horse to have.

"It is lovely to come here and have won a Stakes race. It probably helped him when Cityscape came alongside as he was idling a little.

"I wouldn't have a clue where he'd go next but we'll take each race as it comes."

Knight crowned arguably the best day of his career when Illustrious Blue came with a withering run to claim the front-running Aajel in the Moss Bros Sagaro Stakes.

Marcus Tregoning's Aajel has only run once in two years but made a bold bid from the front under Martin Dwyer while his stablemate Askar Tau ran a shocker.

As Dwyer kicked for home nearly two furlongs out, Akmal was soon back-peddling and Electrolyser looked the main danger to Aajel but Crowley had timed his run to perfection on the 16-1 shot.

On his first attempt at two miles, the seven-year-old quickened up to win by half a length.

Knight said: "To have a double at Ascot with a Group Three and a Listed race, it doesn't get much better than that.

"I don't think I've had a winner here before either, third in the Ribblesdale was about the best we've done.

"We just wanted to try him over two miles at the start of the season to see what happened and I suppose the Yorkshire Cup is the next obvious race.

"I didn't put him in the Ascot Gold Cup and I think the entries have closed."

James Fanshawe saddled his first winner on turf this season as Society Rock ran out an impressive winner of the Cleanevent Pavillion Stakes.

Winner of a valuable sales race at Newmarket last season, he had flopped when upped to seven furlongs on his final start at two.

Our Jonathan was sent off favourite after a good campaign last year but his penalty told and he flattered to deceive.

The winner looked short of room inside the final furlong as Cecil's Corporal Maddox looked to have got first run.

However, after sitting and suffering, Pat Cosgrave finally got the gap he craved and the 9-2 shot seized the opening to win by three-quarters of a length.

"I'd just like to mention George Baker here, as he has done a lot of work on the horse but couldn't do the weight today," said Fanshawe.

"He would never have run over seven furlongs last year but the race was so valuable we thought we'd better have a go.

"I probably should have saved him for handicaps but I wanted to take him away from Newmarket as he'd done most of his racing there.

"He'd always looked like he could be a class horse.

"It will be softly softly because it's difficult between two and three, but he's in the Duke Of York so we might give that some thought."