Royal Ascot absentee Came From The Dark lights up Sandown with Charge success

Came From The Dark left trainer Ed Walker wondering what might have been at Royal Ascot after defeating King's Stand Stakes runner-up Arecibo by a neck in the Group 3 Coral Charge.

Walker had high hopes for Came From The Dark and Starman at Ascot, only for both horses to miss last month's royal meeting.

He will certainly be hoping Came From The Dark's cosy win bodes well for Saturday, when Starman contests the Group 1 Darley July Cup, and there is no doubting how high be regards both sprinters.

"It's really frustrating we had to miss Ascot with Came From The Dark," said Walker, sounding a little hoarse after cheering home his winner. "He picked up a niggle after Newmarket and I'm gutted to have missed the King's Stand as I think it would have been the perfect set-up for him.

"He's been a very frustrating horse until this year. I think I took a year too long to geld him and that's been the making of him. It's all come together this year."

Mapping out a plan towards the Betfair Sprint Cup on September 4, he added: "He loves Haydock – his form there is brilliant and I think the easy six in the Sprint Cup is fine for him. The question is where do we go next? There's a bit of head-scratching to be done but we're working back from Haydock."

Came From The Dark was the second leg of a fabulous four-timer for Tom Marquand, who was involved in the controversial dead-heat aboard Hurricane Ivor and also took the 7f handicap with Farasi Lane and the 1m2f handicap with Wink Of An Eye for the Queen.

Auria well on top

A week after her half-sister Chil Chil landed a Group 3 at Newcastle, Auria did her bit to uphold family honour with an authoritative success in the Listed Coral Distaff.

Racing in the colours of owner-breeder Fiona Denniff, Auria was scratched from the Musidora Stakes earlier in the season after rearing over and cutting her head when being saddled at York but there was no drama on this occasion as she powered clear from the front under champion jockey Oisin Murphy.

"Her half-sister won a Group 3 last week and she's a half-sister to Beat The Bank too, who was a special horse for us, so it's lovely she's a Listed winner now," said winning trainer Andrew Balding.

"It suited her well and she's a good, strong galloper. There's a fillies' Group 3 back here in August which is the obvious one but I wouldn't rule out going further in time."

Plan B comes off

All through the winter and spring, John and Thady Gosden had one race above all others in mind for Magical Morning. The weather then got in the way but it was on their side this week and helped Lady Bamford's four-year-old to run out a cosy winner of the £75,000 Coral Challenge.

Magical Morning: an impressive winner of the Coral ChallengeCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Having finished only eighth in the Royal Hunt Cup, Frankie Dettori's mount was allowed to go off at 13-2 here, but he showed a tidy turn of foot, one that would come in extremely handy if he runs in Glorious Goodwood's Unibet Mile, for which he is the sponsors' 7-1 favourite.

"We teed him up for the Hunt Cup but the ground was rattling and against him," said John Gosden. "The Hunt Cup had been on the agenda since the autumn but this had always been 'plan B'.

"He is going the right way but the ground is important to him. He appreciated it today and we couldn't be more pleased with him."

Read more reports from Sandown

Beautiful St Mark's Basilica stamps class on small but mighty Eclipse field

Faulty equipment causes photo-finish drama at Sandown as wrong winner called

Galileo is 'pretty near done' - his grandson St Mark's is pretty near flawless

Is St Mark's Basilica the best horse in Europe? Our experts have their say

Magical Morning: ran out a cosy winner of the Coral Challenge

Watch live races through the Racing Post. Log in to your bookmaker account and look on the racecards for eligible races. Click the red 'Watch live now' icon and they're off! Find out how here