Group 1 shocks and an electric winner for the bright sparks

Hoity-toity folk obsessed with Group races who dismiss the Cambridgeshire as being by Lottery out of Cavalry Charge would have had an indigestible time of it by the end of an absorbing afternoon at Newmarket yesterday.

The twin Group 1 peaks on the card proved unfathomable to most form buffs as the six-runner Cheveley Park was won by a 25-1 shot and the ten-runner Middle Park also fell to a horse who went off at what older-timers might call a pony.

By way of contrast the far-simpler-to-solve Cambridgeshire, with 31 thundering up the Rowley Mile and a bit, went to the well-backed joint-third favourite Spark Plug at 12-1.

The Last Lion’s triumph in the Middle Park was the fun result of the day, with plenty of rewarding subplots among the human cast attached to him.