But the 100-30 winner dug deep under Martin Dwyer and stayed on to win by half a length, with the pair nicely clear of Auditorium.

Fire Up The Band was all but pulled up close home by Adrian Nicholls and may have suffered a recurrence of an old leg injury.

It was a fine effort from the winner, who was giving a considerable amount of weight to his rivals and he may now be campaigned with the aim of deservedly breaking his Group-race duck.

“He is a lovely old horse and races like this are ideal for him,” said Balding’s father Ian.

“I expect that we will look for a Listed race or maybe a Group Three for him. He’s just a few pounds below Group One class but he’s very game and he tries hard.

“He ran in the Diomed behind Passing Glance last year but he didn’t seem to quite get home whereas seven furlongs seems to be the perfect trip for him.”

Henry Cecil’s Akimbo was far from disgraced in finding the winner too strong on his return from a 398-day lay-off.

“He’s been off an awful long time and he may have liked the ground a little bit faster,” said Cecil’s assistant David Lanagan.

“We have been having an awful lot of seconds but they have been improving for a race and hopefully he’ll come on for it.

“He’s in the Queen Anne at York but that will be up to Prince Khalid (Abdullah) and his racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe.”

Old stager Establishment relished every yard of the two-mile trip as he outstayed his rivals to win the Avtrade Stakes under Fran Ferris.

The Charles Cyzer-trained eight-year-old was returned at 25-1 and almost twice those odds on the Tote as punters feared his ability to go in the ground.

But he stayed on to take up the running from Incursion just inside the final furlong and held the late challenge of Theatre, who looked sure to go past 50 yards out but faltered in the shadow of the winning post.

Well-backed Turtle Soup finished a never-nearer fourth.

Cyzer was ending an eight-year gap without a winner at one of his local tracks.

“He’s been dropped a lot in the weights but if he goes up a few pounds for winning this then we can run in some better races,” he said.

“He keeps plodding on and I think he probably appreciates a bit of cut, not least because it helps to slow the others down a bit.

“He’ll win a race or two in his turn and pay for his keep which is all you can ask for because he has been a great friend to the stable over the years.”

The race had a sad post-script when Belle Rouge collapsed and died in the unsaddling enclosure while Ferris collected a one-day suspension (May 31) for careless riding after he was adjudged to have caused interference close home.

Paul Fitzsimons came in for some praise from winning trainer Milton Bradley after he had brought Whistler (10-1) home to beat The Lord by a neck in the SBJ Group Stakes.

“After Paul broke a leg last year, Richard Hills came in for the ride and he built up a good relationship with this horse,” said Bradley.

“But Paul deserved the chance to get back on him and he got it dead right today – you have just got to have all the patience in the world.

“He’d been running well and he did well to get as close as he did at York after he got the hood stuck for a while after the stalls opened.”

Twyla Tharp (7-2), a daughter of champion sire Sadler’s Wells, earned a step up in class after running away with the Billy Fiske Maiden Fillies’ Stakes under Kerrin McEvoy.

The John Gosden-trained three-year-old, owned by Lord Lloyd-Webber, was always going best and romped away from her rivals to score by five lengths from Lady Diktat.

Identifying the Ribblesdale Stakes as a possible target for the winner, Gosden said: “We were never thinking about handicaps for her – she is a very nice filly.

“She had a little hiccup which meant we had to miss her intended reappearance at Newbury but she bounced back from it well.

“She goes on good to firm but she wouldn’t like it like a road.”

Public Forum (5-2) had been equally-impressive when taking the International Bureau of Aviation Stakes by three and a half lengths under Richard Hughes.

The colt was easy to back before the race but fairly flew away when asked to quicken a quarter of a mile from the finish and soon had the race in safe keeping.

Jamie Osborne introduced a smart prospect in the opener as Marriage Value ran out an impressive winner under Shane Kelly.

The daughter of Marju found a decent turn of foot in the rain-softened conditions and pulled clear close home to beat High Heel Sneakers – who herself made eyecatching headway from off the pace – in the Goodwood Aero Club EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

With several of the youngsters going off at a rapid pace, the field finished well spread out at the winning post.

Osborne was represented by new assistant Adrian Lee, the former Newmarket trainer who is back in Britain after a spell in the Far East.

“Jamie picked this one out in a piece he did on his two-year-olds for the BBC on Wednesday so hopefully a few people have backed it,” Lee said of the 7-1 winner.

Roger Harris sent out a one-two in the finale when Golden Dixie (10-1) led home Attorney to take the ISS Facility Services Apprentice Handicap.