However, he showed plenty of his old dash to produce a triumphant outcome to a plan hatched earlier this season.

There were eight horses in with a chance inside the last of the five furlongs but it was Bond Boy who found the best turn of foot under Dean Mernagh to burst through and take the lead 100 yards out.

Bond Boy (25-1) ran on strongly to claim the first prize by three-quarters of a length from Highland Warrior (25-1) with Malapropism (16-1) a short-head back in third and Peace Offering (22-1) the same distance away in fourth.

Two lengths covered the first eight home in a race which produced “a cracking result” for the sponsors.

Despite his starting price Bond Boy, who only just scraped into the bottom of the handicap, had been well fancied by connections.

Smart said: “This is better than winning a Group Two at York because he would have been a Group horse if he’d been a sound horse.

“He was laid out for the Stewards’ Cup just like he was laid out for this. I started planning this at the beginning of the year.

“I said to Dean ’do not panic, cover him, you’ve got the draw, you’ll get the spilt so stay, stay, stay’ and he’s the first jockey who has listened to me since Chris Catlin when Chris won on him.

“This horse can shift, he can really shift when he goes.

“This is the first time for ages he’s had this weight on his back and he was the last horse to get in – he just got in.

“We’ll see what the handicapper does now but we’ll look at the big handicap route.”

Far Pavilions (9-2) was brought with a well-timed run down the the centre of the track by Robert Winston to take the Sheraton Grand Cup by half a length from Peak Of Perfection with Swift Sailor another three-quarters back in third.

Plans for the progressive gelding are undecided with trainer Alan Swinbank favouring a tilt at the Northumberland Plate but owner David Abell said: “Alan and I are not really agreed on this.

“I think he might like to go for the Northumberland Plate but I’m going to New Zealand with the Lions five days before and I’m tending to favour going to Royal Ascot at York for the two-and-a-half-miler (Ascot Stakes) because it’s sometimes not too hot a race.

“I think it would be easier to win than the Northumberland Plate but whether he gets two and a half we don’t know.”

There was another good result for the bookies in the VC Bet Sprint Trophy Handicap – the consolation race for those eliminated from the main event – when 25-1 shot Harrison’s Flyer got home by a neck from the trail-blazing Handsome Cross.

The Richard Fahey-trained winner had been beaten in a claimer at Lingfield on Wednesday but came good here under a fine ride from Gyles Parkin.

After weighing in, Parkin said: “He got beaten at Lingfield the other day but there was a false start and I think he might have got a bit over-excited.

“The ground was a bit quick for him today and I wasn’t sure I was going to get to the other horse because mine was lugging left.”