Ardad continued his dominant numerical lead in the European sires’ championship when Eve Lodge strolled to victory at Lingfield to become her sire’s ninth individual winner.

Trained by Charlie Fellowes, Eve Lodge was bred by Corps Commerce Ltd from the Footstepsinthesand mare Sandy Times. Her win followed the Thursday night victory at Sandown for Beautiful Sunshine, her second in a row for George Boughey. Both fillies are among a number of Ardad two-year-olds now being aimed at Royal Ascot.

Among the freshman sires this season, Ardad has by far the best strike-rate –  56.25% – with his nine winners coming from 16 runners and including Condrieu, a winner on debut at Chantilly.

It has also been a good week for Cityscape, who was represented by the winners King Viktor, Aria Rose and Urban Violet, while his five-time-winning daughter Urban Artist was second in the G3 Bronte Cup at York on her seasonal debut for Hughie Morrison.